Secrets & Dreams
by Ruby1235
Summary: Sequel to Summer Dreaming-Karin begins to train her powers while balancing a job, school, and her relationship with Toshiro. Yuzu's life flipped upside down, and she's now finding herself changing from the organized perfectionist into someone who's goal is to just enjoy life. Both the sisters are living normal lives that are full of many secrets and dreams. Little do they know...
1. Home Sweet Home

**A/N: Surprise! I really loved writing the spin-off to The Reason, and I decided to continue the storyline with a sequel to Summer Dreaming. I am still clearly writing the sequel to The Reason, and both these sequels will be following a similar timeline. So you'll get a lot of Bleach content each week. I hope you all enjoy.**

* * *

 **The 28th of June**

"The whole program was amazing."

"It sounds like you had fun Karin," Isshin replied, as he opened the front door. Allowing both Yuzu and Karin to walk inside before he followed behind. "Although you both forgot to mention that it was longer than three weeks."

Karin laughed, as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Dad it was just a few extra days. Besides, I'm sure you loved having us out of your hair."

"Oh, I did for the first couple weeks. I was practically throwing a party every night," Isshin teased, grinning at Karin's eye roll. "But you'd be surprised on how much I missed your loud mouth and Yuzu's cooking."

"Wow thanks dad." Karin shot back, smirking at her dad's laughter. Her eyes went to the stairs when she noticed Yuzu had slipped away to go upstairs. Finally she looked back to her dad, who had an eyebrow raised. "She's been quiet since we got on the plane in New Luna. She told me she was just tired."

Isshin shrugged after a moment more of silence. "I guess that's understandable. I'm surprised you're not already upstairs ready to sleep."

Karin grinned at that. "I don't know. I guess I'm just more energized. And speaking of upstairs, when can I start moving my stuff into Ichigo's old room."

"Well," Isshin hummed, a smile returning to his face. "Since you were gone those extra few days, I might have had the room painted, and a new bed delivered-"

"Yes!" Karin interrupted loudly, as she bolted to the stairs. Taking them two at a time to get to the second floor of the house quicker. Throwing open the door to what was now her new bedroom, she smiled as she walked in. It looked like a completely new room. Unlike Ichigo's old layout, her bed was in the center of the room, and there was a bedside table on one side, and a desk on the other. It was the same old desk, as that was something that was passed down from their grandmother on their mom's side. Opening the closet doors to see the walk in closet had Karin grinning. It was certainly an upgrade from having to share the smaller closet in Yuzu's room.

"I don't remember you leaving with two suitcases."

Hearing her dad's voice, Karin turned to see him setting down her second suitcase next to the one she had brought up. "Yeah I kind of bought some things while I was gone. Just some new clothes and things. I realized pretty quickly that I should probably expand my wardrobe past athletic shorts and t-shirts."

"I noticed the sandals you're wearing," Isshin started, chuckling as his eyes moved down to Karin's feet. "I don't think I've ever seen you wear anything apart from athletic shoes or standard flip flops."

Laughing as she moved the second suitcase over next to the one she brought up. "The sandals are actually pretty comfortable."

"Right, well as you can tell, I left out buying the bedding for your bed, and decorations for your room," Isshin replied, changing the subject to her new room. "I thought I'd leave that for you to do. Orihime helped move some of your things in here, but you'll have to do the rest. I figured we could stop by the store on the way to pick something up for dinner tonight."

"Yessssss! I have been missing Rocky's burgers."

Smiling at Karin's eyes lighting up, Isshin nodded once. "I'm going to go get Yuzu. I got a new bed for her as well, so she'll probably be needed some stuff for her room."

Karin nodded back at her dad, then moved over to unzip the suitcase that was laying on top of her bed. "Alright well just tell me when we are leaving."

"Will do," Isshin replied, then he left the room to walk down to Yuzu's room. Knocking on the slightly open door had opened the door the rest of the way. Raising an eyebrow at the tornado of clothes all over the floor and the bed. He knew for a fact that the room had been spotless when he had Orihime and Ichigo over the other day to help move some furniture around. His eyes focused on Yuzu, who was layind down on top of the mattress. "Hey kiddo. Taking a break from unpacking?"

"I was looking for my hoodie," Yuzu replied, noticing him looking around at the clothes everywhere had her sighing. "I'll clean it up later."

"Right..." Isshin trailed off, then he put his smile back on his face. "Well I wanted to let you and your sister pick out new bedding, so I thought we'd all go to do that, then pick up dinner."

"I'm kind of tired dad," Yuzu replied without hesitation. "I didn't really want to go anywhere."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Yuzu replied, turning so her back was facing the doorway where her dad was. "Just get me a plain white comforter, and tell Karin she can pick out whatever else. As for dinner, I'll just take a chicken sandwich."

It was quiet for a long moment, as Isshin studied Yuzu. "Are you feeling okay Yuzu? You've been pretty quiet."

"I'm just tired," Yuzu said, planning to leave it at that, but she continued anyways. "I woke up at six this morning to get ready to leave. I didn't really get that much sleep."

When they fell into silence again, Isshin finally had to nod. "Alright. Hopefully, you can go to sleep early tonight."

"Hopefully," Yuzu replied, keeping her focus on the window. She heard her dad walk out of her room, and faintly heard her dad tell Karin it was time to leave. Karin asked where she was, and her dad told Karin that she was staying here. After that, Yuzu couldn't hear anymore of the conversation. Resting her head back on the bare mattress, she curled her legs closer to her, and wrapped her arms around them. She kept on staring at the window until her eyes began to water. Feeling a wave of guilt and regret that just seemed to keep coming on back to her. _Home sweet home... I guess._

 **A couple days later, 30th of June**

Sitting on the edge of her bed, Yuzu smoothed down one of the wrinkles on her comforter. She did end up with the white comforter she requested. Karin ended up picking her out pastel pink sheets and pillows, and some matching decorations to put around her room. Her eyes focused on the open closet doors. Half of the closet was completely empty, as Karin had taken the rest of her clothes and things out of it. The same went for half of their shared dresser. Her own clothes were still scattered all over the floor, as she hadn't yet gotten around to do laundry since coming home.

After wasting away another few minutes doing nothing, she finally hopped up from the bed, and started to collect the clothes off the floor. Once the basket was full, she left her room to go downstairs. There was still plenty of more clothes on her floor that needed to be washed, but she'd have to make a second trip. It wasn't until she reached the bottom of the stairs that she heard laughter from in the living room. The sight of a familiar blonde caught her eye immediately.

"Karin I've missed you so much!" Kimi exclaimed as she hugged Karin dramatically. Both girls laughing as they hugged.

"I know it's been a whole two days since we've been apart." Karin shot back dramatically, as they laughed again.

"I've seen you before," Orihime spoke up from where she and Ichigo were sitting on one of the couches across from Isshin. They had come over for what would be the girls welcome home party in a couple hours. "You were practically all over Karin's Instagram and Snapchat the past few weeks."

"Oh yeah," Karin started, realizing she hadn't introduced Kimi yet. "This is my friend Kimi. I met her at the music program. Kimi, you already really know because of what I told you, but this is my dad, my brother Ichigo, Orihime, and my niece Mina."

Kimi's smile widened when her eyes widened on Mina who was asleep in her rocker sleeper. "Oh, I've seen plenty of pictures of Mina," she started, smiling as her eyes met Orihime's. "It's been the highlight of our morning routines to look at the pictures of Mina you sent over the past few weeks."

"Yeah our morning routine of coffee and Grey's Anatomy re-runs," Karin said, grinning and slinging her arm around Kimi's shoulders. "This human has been my life and soul for the past few weeks, and I don't know how I've managed to live without her my whole life."

Kimi nodded quickly in agreement with Karin. "On the first day we established that we were clearly soulmates, and were best friends instantly."

"She's the reason why I own things like makeup and hair stuff now-"

"And sandals?" Isshin interrupted Karin, making her laugh.

"Yeah and sandals," Karin agreed, laughing a little bit more. "As well as why I now know I can socialize with other people without completely hating them right away."

Kimi shrugged hearing that, as a small smirk started on her face. "Yeah, well my parents can't believe I do yoga now, and that I run. I got up early to run yesterday and they thought I was sick or something."

"You're welcome." Karin replied, making them all laugh.

"I have to say that it's nice to meet you," Ichigo spoke up after they stopped laughing. "It's rare for Karin to bring any of her friends home, let alone friends that aren't the guys she usually plays soccer with."

"Yeah, I've seen some of the things you two have posted on social media, and it looks like you two had a lot of fun." Orihime added offering a smile in Kimi's direction.

"Oh it was a blast," Kimi replied, her eyes meeting Karin's. "Even with all the long music classes and lectures- oh and the wicked witch."

Karin scowled at the thought. "Oh don't remind me. I'm having war flashbacks just thinking about her."

"She was one of our teachers, and she was old and cranky," Kimi explained before anybody could question it. A grin stretched across her face. "She didn't really like Karin and I all that much."

"It didn't make sense, because we were _such_ good students." Karin added, laughing along with Kimi.

"Well we'd love to hear more about the program," Isshin said, his eyes going to Kimi. "We're about to have a little welcome back party in a few hours. You're welcome to stay."

"That'd be cool- oh! Please tell me you're cooking." Kimi said, her eyes now focused on Karin again.

"Karin cooking?" Ichigo questioned before Karin could respond. "That might end with the kitchen on fire, and us all dead from food poisoning."

Karin threw a sarcastic smile Ichigo's way. "No that's you."

"I'm serious though," Kimi continued, as she motioned to Karin. "She really knows how to throw it down in the kitchen."

It was quiet for a long moment, then Isshin coughed. "Really? This Karin?"

Rolling her eyes at her dad's words, Karin crossed her arms over her chest. "Dad."

A knock on the door was heard before anything else could be said. Since Karin was the closest, she walked over and opened the door quickly. Her eyes saw white hair, then they connected with turquoise eyes.

A moment passed before Orihime spoke up. "Karin you can let him in. I asked him to come early."

"Right." Karin said after another moment of silence. Stepping back to let him in, her eyes left his to meet Kimi's. She could see Kimi raising an eyebrow. _Oh god… Please don't say anything Kimi!_

Having not really noticed the silence, Isshin looked from Toshiro to Kimi. "Kimi this is Toshiro. He's one of Orihime's and Ichigo's friends."

Ichigo shrugged hearing that. "I wouldn't go that far."

Toshiro smirked in Ichigo's direction. "Well the first part was right."

Kimi waved shortly at Toshiro. "Hi..." She trailed off as a big grin appeared on her face.

Karin noticed Kimi was going to say something, and was quick to change the topic. "I'll just cook dinner tonight. But I'll need to go to the store."

"Right, well I have a business call to take, but I can take you in an hour." Isshin replied, then his eyes moved to Orihime and Ichigo.

"I would go," Orihime started, her eyes going down to Mina, then to Ichigo. "But Mina will probably need to nurse when she wakes up and I don't really want to disturb her nap right yet. Ichigo and I have some stuff to discuss about our training schedule next week too… Maybe Toshiro can take you. Since he has a new car and all."

Unknown to everyone else, Toshiro and Karin both seemed to freeze up at that suggestion. Kimi's eyes had been moving back and forth between the two, and she finally spoke up. "I think that is a great idea."

Isshin's eyes were on Toshiro. "Do you mind taking them?"

Finally Toshiro broke his stiff posture, and nodded once. "Sure, I don't mind."

"Alright," Isshin agreed, reaching for his wallet and handing over his card to Karin. His eyes moved over to Yuzu when he heard her movement by the stairs. "Yuzu you should go with them to help them find their way around the grocery store, as I'm sure Karin has no clue."

"Dad-"

"I can't," Yuzu interrupted her sister, as she adjusted the laundry basket in her hands. "I have a lot of laundry to do."

Without anything else being said, Yuzu walked away. The silence lasted only a few more seconds before Kimi hooked her arm through Karin's. "Let's go."

"Okay," Karin agreed, but paused to look back at her dad. "The sooner I get my learners is the sooner I am one step closer to getting my drivers license so I wouldn't need people to drive me around."

Isshin chuckled, as he leaned back on the couch cushions. "Karin I am well aware that you want to go take the test for your permit. We will get to it."

With that said, Karin, Kimi, and Toshiro left the house. Once in Toshiro's car they started off to the store. Toshiro driving, Karin in the passenger seat, and Kimi in the back. It had been silent since they left the house, but finally Kimi's laughter broke the silence. "Well that could have been a complete disaster. Thanks for warning me that we weren't talking about the whole music program experience."

Karin sighed, as she brought a hand to her face. "Kimi-"

"No really," Kimi started up again, as she shook her head. "What if I said something to your family?"

"You did good, I didn't have anything to worry about." Karin replied, feeling completely embarrassed about having the conversation right in front of Toshiro.

It was quiet for another moment, then Kimi started up again. "Can I ask why you aren't telling your family?"

Karin sighed heavily. "Kimi can you not?"

"I'm just asking," Kimi replied, as she hummed. "You know, I don't see why not. Unless you two aren't working out."

"Oh my god." Karin mumbled under her breath, shrinking in her seat, as she brought her hands back to her face.

"I mean, from what we-your roommates-could tell it seemed that you two weren't exactly hanging out and reading books-"

"Okay Kimi," Karin interrupted, twisting her upper half so she could look back to the backseat. "He is right here. Can you please stop?"

Kimi just smirked at Karin's clear embarrassment. "For now."

Staring at Kimi for a long moment in silence, Karin finally turned back around to look forward.

Toshiro's chuckling broke the silence when they were stopped at a red light. "Your face is red."

"Shut up." Karin shot back quickly. Trying her best not to make eye contact with him, and pretending the whole conversation didn't just happen.

 **Later that evening**

More of their friends had shown up for the party a few hours ago, and they were now listening to Karin and Kimi recount many of their adventures over the past few weeks. They were currently showing some of the footage of what happened on Karin and Yuzu's birthday.

Due to Karin and Kimi both seeming to capture the attention of everyone, Yuzu was easily able to slip away and go upstairs. By the time she got to her room the sound of everyone had faded considerably. The floor of her room was now free of clothes. Now she just had two full baskets of clean clothes to fold and put away. Instead of doing that, she got up on her bed, and laid back.

Hearing her phone buzzing, she pulled it out of her pocket, and sighed heavily when she noticed who it was. _Taro._ Ignoring the call, she tossed her phone over to land in one of the laundry baskets. He had called and texted her multiple times the past couple days since they had left the program. Feeling her eyes start to water at the thought of him, she sniffled, and tried to keep herself from crying.

A knock on the door was heard, as Orihime appeared in Yuzu's doorway. She had a light smile on her face, as she had her new puppy in her arms. "Bingo wanted to come say hi," she said, as she walked into the room. "That and I did too. You've been pretty quiet today."

"I've just been kind of tired." Yuzu replied, having sat up to accept Bingo from Orihime. Holding the wiggling puppy was a bit difficult at first, but he finally settled to licking her face and excitedly wagging his small tail.

"Really?" Orihime questioned, an eyebrow raised at Yuzu. "I heard from your dad that you slept nearly all day yesterday."

Yuzu shrugged after a moment. "I wasn't really sleeping. I was just kind of staying in bed."

"Oh..." Orihime trailed off, as she moved to sit on the end of Yuzu's bed. Bingo had walked briefly back to her before darting back to Yuzu. Her eyes exploring the room. "I like what you did adding the pink and white."

"I only asked for the white."

Orihime smiled after Yuzu spoke up. "You know we've heard a lot of about Karin's trip, but you haven't said much about yours."

"We talked while I was gone." Yuzu reminded, her eyes dropping down to the comforter.

"I know," Orihime said, smiling back at Yuzu. "I just figured there would be more stories that you'd like to talk about."

The sound of Yuzu's phone buzzing from the laundry basket was heard. Yuzu quickly reached over to ignore the call, and she brought her hands back to petting Bingo. "We did a lot while we were gone."

Raising an eyebrow at Yuzu's reaction to the phone ringing, Orihime decided not to mention it. "You and your friends?"

It was quiet for a long moment, as Yuzu took in a long deep breath. Sighing heavily, she finally met Orihime's eyes to reveal tears in her own. "Orihime, I had sex."

That clearly took Orihime aback as her eyes had widened. "You did?"

"The night before we came home," Yuzu replied with a nod, as she suddenly felt a weight lifting off her shoulders. Tears finally going down her face. "And I shouldn't have. It was just in the moment I wanted to, but it wasn't until afterward that I realized how big of a mistake I made."

Yuzu started to really cry then. Orihime moved closer and wrapped her arms around Yuzu. "It's okay."

"No it's not," Yuzu replied, her chest throbbing, and tears continuing down her face. "I made a promise to myself that I wanted to wait until I was married. I wasn't ready for it. Then this guy comes along that I really liked, and it's all ruined now."

Orihime was quiet as she soothingly rubbed Yuzu's back. "Yuzu I have to ask… Did this guy push you into having sex?"

Yuzu shook her head, and pulled back a little to look at Orihime. "No. He told me we should stop, and he kept asking if I was sure. I kept saying that I wanted to. And I did. In that moment I did. I made a huge mistake, and I can't take it back. It ruined everything. I ruined everything."

Not saying anything more, Orihime pulled Yuzu back close, and continue rubbing her back. A sympathetic look on her face as she listened to Yuzu cry.

 **Outside on the back porch**

Having stepped out on the back porch with Mina, Karin was settling her back down after some of the loudness from inside had bothered her. "It's all good Mina. I know you're probably not used to this many people in one small space. But with my family and all of our friends it can get pretty hectic."

"That's true," Toshiro's voice was heard, then he stepped outside on the porch. Sliding the door shut behind himself, as his eyes met Karin's. "I hope you don't mind. I could use some fresh air."

Karin shrugged, before she moved her focus back on Mina. A minute passed before Mina seemed to be fully soothed back down, and Karin put her pacifier back in her mouth. Sitting down on one of the chairs, she tried to keep her focus on Mina, but she felt herself completely tuned onto Toshiro.

"Kimi is entertaining everyone with more stories from the program," Toshiro said, as he finally moved closer to her to sit down in a chair. It was quiet for a moment, then he smirked. "So your roommates could tell that we weren't exactly hanging out and reading books."

At Toshiro bringing up what Kimi said, Karin felt her cheeks grow warm. She sighed heavily, as she averted her eyes. "I love Kimi to death, but sometimes I wish she didn't say everything that comes to her mind."

It was quiet as Toshiro watched Karin. "Well if you want, that can be all we did. Just hang out and read books. Nothing more."

Karin's eyes darted right back to meet his at his words. "Is that what you want?"

Feeling his face grow slightly warm, Toshiro didn't say anything at first. Keeping Karin's eyes, he finally sighed. "I-"

"Okay it quieted down a little bit," Ichigo's voice interrupted Toshiro's, as he opened the back door. As he focused on Karin and Mina, his eyes widened. "How in the hell did you get her to sleep so quickly?"

Karin smirked at Ichigo's wide eyed look. "Because I'm just that amazing."

"Okay," Ichigo said, rolling his eyes at Karin's smirk. "Since you're so amazing, you can come over and put her to bed for her naps and at actual bedtime everyday for the rest of her life. Because it seems that she never sleeps when it is just Orihime and I."

"Just say the word. I'd love to come show you how it's done," Karin said, laughing as she moved to stand up. She paused to look at Toshiro. "You coming?"

Meeting Karin's eyes once more, Toshiro nodded and stood up. "Yeah."

 **A half hour later**

"Alright I guess we'll be heading out." Ichigo said, having finished putting Bingo's leash on him.

Orihime, who had come down the stairs after Bingo bolted down them, nodded once as she looked to Karin and Kimi. "It's nice to have you back Karin, and it was nice to meet you in person Kimi."

"What were you up to the last half-hour?" Ichigo asked, an eyebrow raised in her direction.

"Oh just talking to Yuzu." Orihime replied, then she picked up Mina's carrier. "I didn't mean to miss saying goodbye to everyone."

"Speaking of Yuzu," Isshin started, crossing his arms over his chest, as he frowned. "I think something has been bothering her. She has hardly said anything since coming home. She stayed up in her room most all of yesterday."

Orihime shrugged, and put a smile back on her face. "Well it just seems to me that she's just trying to catch up on sleep. She lost a lot of sleep those last few days finishing her final painting, and then with having to wake up early to travel. She's really needed the rest."

"Well I guess she does tend to take on a lot," Isshin said after a moment of saying nothing. "It's just unusual to see her so exhausted I guess."

Orihime's eyes were focused down on Mina. "Mina's already asleep?"

"You're welcome," Karin spoke up before Ichigo could. Her focus was taking a couple pictures of Mina asleep in her carrier, then she switched to taking pictures of Bingo. "Do you guys have to leave? I feel like I haven't seen enough of Mina, and I really love your new puppy."

"Don't worry Karin," Ichigo says "We're planning on having you babysit all the time. Bingo included."

Karin grinned hearing that. "Sounds good to me. Just tell me when." It wasn't until after the others left that Karin's eyes went to Kimi. "Do your parents just not want to spend time with you?"

Kimi shrugged, as she leaned back. "I apparently annoyed them so much yesterday that they sent me off today with no problems," she said, then she laughed. "Nah we actually spent all of yesterday and the evening before that catching up, and they told me that I could come over here today as long as you come over to meet them tomorrow."

"Oh damn, I'm already meeting the parents," Karin started, grinning at Kimi. "It's only our first date."

"Shut up." Kimi shot back, rolling her eyes, but joining Karin's laughter.

"I'm sure they just want to meet my awesome self after all the amazing stories you told them," Karin said, then her eyes went in the direction of the kitchen where her dad went. "Hey dad, can Kimi spend the night?!"

"Is it okay with her parents?" Isshin called back.

Karin's eyes went back to Kimi with a raised eyebrow. Kimi smirked. "Let me text them, but it'll probably be."

"She's texting them now!" Karin called back to her dad in the kitchen.

Isshin poked his head out of the kitchen so he could see Karin and Kimi. "If it is okay with her parents, then sure."

Another few seconds passed before Kimi finally looked up from her phone. "They said alright, and they asked if we want them to pick us up for breakfast at nine tomorrow."

"Ha," Isshin started, walking out the kitchen, and handing both girls ice cream bars. "Karin won't be up that early."

"I will too," Karin shot back, taking the wrapping off her ice cream bar. "I'm a morning person now."

Isshin shook his head, a smirk on his face. "Yeah right. I'll have to believe that when I see it," he said, pausing to laugh a bit. "Alright, I am going upstairs to shower. You two don't get into any trouble."

"We'll try not to," Karin replied, waiting until her dad went upstairs to focus on Kimi. "Game plan: Pajamas, then the new episodes of Grey's and Scandal."

"Sounds good to me, but we should probably finish our ice cream first."

Nodding back at Kimi, Karin took a bite of her ice cream sandwich. "Priorities."

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, so welcome to the sequel to Summer Dreaming. I originally wasn't planning on doing a sequel. My plan was to just have the spin-off(Summer Dreaming) play out, then be done with it by the time I got around to posting the sequel to The Reason. I'm kind of glad I did a sequel to Summer Dreaming, because I love the storylines of Karin and Yuzu. My favorite scene to write was probably the opening scene of the girls returning home, and Karin and Toshiro on the porch. What was yours?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**

 **Also be sure to check out my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot .com (no spaces)**


	2. Busy Day

_Review:_

" _We'll try not to," Karin replied, waiting until her dad went upstairs to focus on Kimi. "Game plan: Pajamas, then the new episodes of Grey's and Scandal."_

" _Sounds good to me, but we should probably finish our ice cream first."_

 _Nodding back at Kimi, Karin took a bite of her ice cream sandwich. "Priorities."_

* * *

 **A couple days later, Friday, July 1st**

"You know," Isshin started, his eyes going to Orihime and Ichigo, who were seated across the table. "You could just leave Mina and Bingo over here. That way you both could train each day instead of taking turns."

"That's nice of you to offer," Orihime started, having been holding Bingo on her lap, and he was busy nibbling at her fingers. "But Ichigo and I feel like right now it's best if we switch off training days. Of course we might take you up on that offer from time to time, but I think we'll be switching off like this until she gets a bit older."

"And besides, you have to work," Ichigo reminded, a smirk on his face at his dad's shrug. "We're not going to just leave Mina here with no one but Bingo to watch her."

Chuckling after that, Isshin's eyes went to the stairs when he heard footsteps. "You know Karin and Yuzu would love to babysit. Speaking of your sisters. Good morning Yu- Karin?"

"The one and only," Karin replied, as she stopped by the table. Dressed in athletic clothes, and her hair was up and out of her face. Her eyes went to Ichigo first. "Oh, you're here."

Smirking back at Karin, Ichigo crossed his arms. "So how is it sleeping in my old room?"

"It's wonderful," Karin replied, grinning as she passed him to go into the kitchen. "It's like you were never there."

While that made Orihime and Ichigo laugh, Isshin shook his head at his daughter, but held a smile on his face. "So it's unusual to see you up so early."

"I just have a lot to do today." Karin replied, then reappeared out of the kitchen. Taking a sip of the coffee she just poured for herself.

"Is that coffee?"

Her dad's question, along with his raised eyebrow, made Karin shrug. "Yeah, I've kind of formed a habit of drinking it every morning."

"What exactly do you have to do today?" Ichigo questioned before his dad could say anything back to Karin. "This is the time where you are supposed to be enjoying your Summer vacation, and doing nothing before your soccer camp starts."

"Okay one, it's not really a soccer camp," Karin started, moving to sit down in the chair next to Orihime in order to her dad in order to see Mina better. "It's just a week where the heads of all the sports at the high school hold scrimmage games to test out freshman to see if they are a fit for their teams."

It was quiet as Ichigo's eyes narrowed in her direction. "So soccer camp."

Rolling her eyes back at Ichigo, Karin sipped her coffee again. "I don't have time to sit around and do nothing Ichigo. I have to start working out again before then if I want to impress the high school's soccer coaches," she paused, as she sighed heavily. "Okay, soccer won't start up until the second semester of the school year. But like I said the coaches are going to already be scouting the week before school starts. After I work out, I'd really like to see if I can get my job back at the rec center or the library, or get a whole new job entirely. It would be nice to start saving up some money. Plus I have to practice piano, as I still have private music lessons coming up-"

"Slow down just a little," Isshin interrupted, as her raised his eyebrow again. "You have plenty of time for all of that. It doesn't need to be done in one day. Let alone just after coming back home-"

"I've been home for two-almost three full days."

"I guess that's true," Isshin agreed, keeping his eyes focused on Karin, then he sighed. "But you can at least have a week or two of just relaxing around the house."

"I could, but I'm choosing to go ahead and start on my to do list," Karin replied, pulling out her phone to look at the list. "On top of everything I said, I have to go ahead and sign up for my classes for high school today… Okay, that really doesn't have to be done until the end of the month, but I'm hoping if I do it sooner I have a better chance at getting the classes I want. I'm also hoping that I can talk my way into potentially getting into this business class and a higher level music class. I don't think I'll be able to take P.E unfortunately, because I'll have that higher level music class."

Isshin hummed at Karin's pause to sip her coffee. "Well you don't have to start high school off with a high level music class. Mind you, you just started playing piano last year, and it took you quite a while to really embrace doing it-"

"I know, but I really like it," Karin interrupted, pausing to scoop Bingo up when he left Orihime to come see her. "As I was saying, the music and the business class will be good for me. They'll look good when I start applying for colleges too. As for my third elective-"

"I'm sorry, did you say college?" Isshin interrupted, his mouth slightly ajar. Not sure if he heard her correctly until she nodded back at him. "The last time we discussed college, I thought you made it pretty clear that you weren't interested in it."

"Dad, that was so long ago," Karin replied, finishing off her coffee. "I met these older girls during my program. With everything they talked about college wise, it had me realizing how much college will benefit me. I really wished I realized it sooner. Hopefully if I get my stuff straightened out, high school will overshadow the academic mistakes I made in middle school."

"I think it's great that you're doing all that Karin." Orihime said, after Ichigo and his father failed to say anything.

"Thanks," Karin said, moving to stand up. "I am going to go run and get a few miles in. Then I'm going to come back and shower. Then I've got to go see about getting my jobs back, or finding a new job all together. Then I have to go sign up for my classes at the high school, and get the run down for the audition for band class. Finally I should probably go kick my soccer ball around- oh and dad, I was serious about my learners permit the other day. I want to start driving as soon as possible."

Isshin stared at his daughter for a long moment, and finally nodded once. "Okay, we'll get right on that."

With that agreed upon, Karin turned to leave the house. Putting in her ear buds, and pulling up her playlist on her phone. Once outside, she paused on the driveway. Looking up at the clear blue sky, she took in a deep breath, and released it. A smile forming on her face at the thought of her busy day.

 **An hour and a half later**

Shutting the front door, Karin continued to try and catch her breath, as she pulled out her ear buds. "I only got in four and a half miles. I am trying to keep it simple since I'm just starting up again."

"Oh yeah, only four and a half miles?" Isshin countered a bit sarcastically, as he left the kitchen. Smiling as she handed her a water bottle.

Taking a long, much-needed drink of the water, Karin had to wipe her mouth after she was done. Her eyes going straight to Ichigo who was now sitting on the couch. "You're still here."

Ichigo nods as he was currently sitting on the couch. Trying to entertain Bingo, while Mina was asleep in her rocker sleeper. "Orihime went to start her training."

"Cool-" Karin broke off at the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. Raising an eyebrow at Yuzu, who was still in pajamas, and her hair was all over the place. "Did you just wake up?"

Yuzu nodded, and stretched her arms above head. Isshin turned his head to be able to look at her. "Good almost afternoon."

Finishing up a yawn, Yuzu looked down at her phone. "It's only eleven."

"I don't think I've ever seen you sleep in," Ichigo said, an eyebrow raised. "The first couple days after coming home is understandable, but I figured you'd be back to normal now."

Yuzu shrugged, then crossed her arms. "I'm just tired."

It was quiet for a moment, as everyone stared in Yuzu's direction. Isshin clearing his throat finally broke the silence. "So what are you plans today?"

Humming lowly, Yuzu looked down at her phone again. "I don't know."

Watching her sister's strange behavior continue had Karin propping her hands on her hips. "What happened to you?"

Yuzu raised her eyes to meet Karin's when she realized her sister had been talking to her. "Nothing."

"Well obviously something happened," Karin said, narrowing her eyes at Yuzu. "You're being weird."

"To be fair, you're usually not the bright and perky ray of sunshine that you've been this morning." Ichigo offered, a smirk at Karin's eye roll.

"Shut up," was all Karin replied with, then she focused back on Yuzu. "All I'm saying is that you're acting weird. Sleeping in late, and you look as if any energy you had died with your soul."

"I'm not acting weird," Yuzu disagreed, rubbing her temple. "I'm fine."

Karin scoffed, then shook her head. "Yeah okay. How come I didn't see your planner out on your desk with your neat and perfect handwriting all over it, scheduling out your whole life for the rest of the Summer? I mean not that I could see it with the mess you left everywhere. Which, by the way, was not there a few days ago when I moved all my stuff out. I mean honestly, if that doesn't show that your acting weird, then I don't know what-"

"Damn it Karin, I said I'm fine!" Yuzu surprisingly snapped, interrupting her sister, and creating an awkward tension.

Yuzu's raised voice had startled Mina awake, causing her to start crying. Ichigo reached over, and scooped her up. Giving a glare in Yuzu's direction. "Thanks a lot Yuzu."

Isshin was frowning at Yuzu. Having not once ever heard Yuzu cuss like that. Sure Karin did every once in a while, Ichigo a lot more, but never Yuzu. "What has gotten into you?"

"Nothing," Yuzu replied, her eyes going to Karin. "I'm just a little tired. I didn't get much sleep the past couple nights. Just because I'm not bouncing around smiling without a care in the world doesn't mean that I'm not fine. Some people need to mind their own damn business."

It was quiet as Yuzu went back upstairs. As soon as she was gone, Karin crossed her arms. "Okay, that was weird."

Focusing his eyes back on Karin, Isshin shook his head. "Lay off your sister."

"Okay, well when you're giving me the third degree this morning just because I want to actually get some stuff done today, you can't get mad at me questioning Yuzu who all of a sudden decided doing nothing was a good idea. This isn't normal!"

"You're telling me." Ichigo said, bouncing Mina to settle her back down.

 **Upstairs**

Walking into her room, Yuzu was quick to shut the door behind herself, then she leaned back against the door. Her eyes traveled the room, and picked up on the clutter that had built up since she returned from her trip. _Karin's right… My room is a mess._ Even as she thought it, she couldn't physically move her arms to start cleaning up the mess. Feeling like her whole body weighed a ton, and moving was almost impossible.

After several minutes passing, she was shaken out of her spaced out mind when her phone buzzed. It was a notification for her art class tomorrow. Scowling at the thought of going to the studio where she had no doubt she'd run into Taro. Her phone buzzed again, and Taro's name popped up on her screen. The sight of his name brought on a burst of anger. Ignoring the call, her anger built, and she chucked the phone across the room. It landed in the laundry baskets of clothes she had still yet to put away. _I can't believe such a little mistake ruined everything… Although it was my decision to cut Taro off in the first place._ With that thought in mind, she moved to her desk. Pulling out her journal, she opened it to a new page, and began writing quickly.

 _July 1st_

 _I'm angry. No I'm more than that! I'm infuriated! Why did I ruin what could have been the best relationship I could ever have?! Everything was amazing, then all of a sudden one bad decision screwed it all up for me!_

 _Taro keeps calling and texting, and I want to answer. But I don't know what would happen if I did. Am I capable of being strong enough to end a relationship that wasn't really an official relationship in the first place-_

Stopping her writing, Yuzu's eyes widened, as she dropped her pen on the desk. "We were never official..." She trailed off, as she felt tears come to her eyes. "We never got the chance." With that said, silent tears trailed down her cheeks, as she brought her hands to her face. _How do I move on from here?_

 **Later that evening**

Looking up from her bed when she heard a knock on the cracked door, Yuzu's eyes met Orihime's when she walked in. "Thanks for coming over."

"No problem," Orihime replied, closing the door behind herself, then taking a sip from her water bottle. "I would sit down, but I'm a bit sweaty and gross from training."

"It's fine Orihime." Yuzu said, her eyes remaining on Orihime for a long moment of silence.

As the silence persisted Orihime sighed then smiled. "You know, I really can only stay for fifteen or twenty minutes-"

"I understand," Yuzu interrupted, as her eyes moved to the floor. "You've got Mina to think about."

Orihime nodded when the silence once again came up. "So-"

"How do you deal with your anxiety?" Yuzu interrupted, her eyes lifting to meet Orihime's. "Like what helps you get through it?"

"I see," Orihime started, moving to sit down on Yuzu's desk chair, then she took a deep breath. "Well for one thing, I think my level of anxiety tends to reach the more extreme side than most. But I can tell that you are developing a little anxiety with how much stress you have been under."

Yuzu shrugged at the thought. "I don't know if I can say I'm stressed-"

"Well I know that it's eating away at you," Orihime interrupted, taking another sip of her water. "You can't stop thinking about what happened. The guilt, the regret, the sadness. When it comes down to it, the only time you don't think and feel those things is when you finally reach a state of numbness. One where you mindlessly go about the day."

 _That's exactly how I feel… What I've been going through._ Yuzu thought, not saying anything back to Orihime, as she looked down at her bed again.

At Yuzu's silence, Orihime figured she could continue. "For me it helps when I can be alone to sort out my thoughts. I meditate and try to work out solutions to my worries in my head. Sometimes it'll only take me an hour, and sometimes it's days. Depending on the level of anxiety I have that day. I also like to get busy. Throwing myself into an activity full force can help me focus on something else."

"I wonder what will work for me," Yuzu said, sighing heavily. "I can't keep feeling like this."

Orihime stood up, walked over to Yuzu, and placed her hand on hers. "Yuzu, you will get past this. I know it hurts and it's hard right now. It feels like that it's never-ending. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. You just might have to do a few things to speed up to get to that end."

Smiling after a moment, Yuzu met Orihime's eyes again. "Thank you for coming to talk to me."

"You're welcome." Orihime replied, leaning slightly over to hug Yuzu.

Sighing at the comfort Orihime's hug and words had given her, Yuzu's eyes went to the mirror in her room. Watching her reflection, she could see the effects of stress and exhaustion. _I need to get my life back again._

 **Later that night**

"I know I'm a half hour later than I said I would be, but it was worth it."

"Did you get everything you wanted done Karin?" Isshin's question was heard from the kitchen, then he appeared to meet her eyes as she walked inside the house.

Nodding her head as she slipped off her shoes, Karin's eyes met his. "I signed up for my classes. I got into the business class, which turned out to be a hybrid with a computer class. I have to do an audition to be switched to the higher level band class, and that will be in a couple weeks. My third elective is actually supposed to be a work-based learning class. I get to leave school an hour early since I have a job. Well if I can get a job that is."

Isshin nodded in approval, a smile on his face. "Well I'm proud of you for getting out there and getting this done early. We'll go get your learners permit sometime in the next few days."

"Thanks dad." Karin replied, as she looks around the house. It was pretty quiet, and the television was the only thing making noise. _It's never this quiet._

"Do you want me to heat you up a plate from dinner? You have had such a busy day that I don't know if you have managed to grab anything to eat."

"No thanks, I grabbed something on my way home. That's why I was a bit late. And for the record, I did eat breakfast and lunch too. Just not here haha."

"Okay," Isshin said, nodding his head as they fell into silence again. Finally he sighed, and looked towards the stairs. "Yuzu's been upstairs most all day today. She only came down to get dinner, then she ate in her room. Orihime stopped by, although she didn't stay long. She just had to talk to Yuzu about something."

"Oh..." Karin trailed off, as the thought of her sister had her sighing. "Dad, I know you said to lay off Yuzu, but something's going on. She keeps saying she's fine and she's just tired, but that excuse got old the day after we came back from our programs."

Isshin surprisingly didn't tell her to let it go, but he nodded in agreement with her. "I just don't know what to do here. With Ichigo I could just about always figure out what was going on without him having to tell me. With you, you can be pretty stubborn, but eventually I could get it out of you. Yuzu… She always tells me everything without me having to ask. This time… I don't know what it is."

It was silent after Isshin stopped talking. Karin held a frown on her face, and her eyes focused on the stairs. Racking her brain for what could possibly be bothering her sister, but nothing came to mind. "Neither do I."

 **Almost an hour later**

Standing in front of the floor length mirror in the closet, Karin finished pulling on her over-large t-shirt for bed, then started combing her wet hair. She spent more time than she meant to in her shower. Half the time she was thinking about what was going on with Yuzu, the other half was spent just standing under the hot water. Trying to relax after having ran around so much that day. She was feeling the exhaustion catching up with her now, and all she wanted was to go to bed. The sound of her phone buzzing captured her attention, and she stopped combing her hair to pick it up. Seeing it was a text from Toshiro, had brought a smile on her face.

 _Toshiro: Are you alive?_

Chuckling, Karin was quick as she typed back. _Kind of._

 _Toshiro: We never really got to finish our conversation the other day._

 _Karin: That's true. I believe there are some unanswered questions we should probably get to answering._

 _Toshiro: That or we could just keep playing the game of getting interrupted everytime we try to talk._

 _Karin: I would say right now would be perfect, but I think this might need to be face-to-face._

 _Toshiro: I agree completely. Maybe in the next couple days we can meet up for a little while._

 _Karin: As long as it isn't at my house. I don't need my dad asking questions. He's got enough on his plate with the Yuzu mystery._

 _Toshiro: Yuzu mystery?_

 _Karin: It's a long story._

 _Toshiro: For another time. I've got a few things to take care of. I just wanted to text you to see if you were alive._

 _Karin: Ha ha. I'm very much alive. But thank you for checking on that. I guess we'll see each other around._

 _Toshiro: I guess we will._

With that finished up, Karin locked her phone, and looked into the mirror. Surprised to see a big smile stretched across her face, and her cheeks flushed a light pink. _I guess with how busy I was today, I hardly had a chance to even think about texting anyone._ At the thought of her busy day, Karin felt the ache in her muscles from running around all day, and left her closet to go to her bed. However, she stopped before she could get in it. Checking the time on her phone to see it was almost midnight, a new thought crossed her mind.

Turning off the lights in her room, she walked quietly out, and down the hall. Turning down the shorter hall, she went to the door on the right. It was left slightly ajar, so she was able to slip inside without making much noise. Crossing the room, she took in a breath, as her eyes tried to adjust in the dark room. "Hey Yuzu?"

The ruffle of the comforter was heard, then a sigh. "Karin?"

"Did I wake you up?" Karin countered, her eyes straining to adjust to the dark room.

"No, I was already awake."

"Oh..." Karin trailed off, and they fell into silence. _Come on Karin. Think of some excuse to be here._ "I know this is going to sound weird, but I'm having a bit of trouble sleeping over in my new room by myself."

The sound of Yuzu moving some more was heard. "You slept in a room by yourself during your music program."

"I know, but it's just different here," Karin said, continuing her lie. "Here I'm used to sleeping in here with your bed right across the room from mine..."

Yuzu was silent after Karin had trailed off, but finally she nodded. "I guess that's understandable. We lived in the same room all of our life up until now."

"Right… So I was wondering if you would mind if I stayed in here. Just for one night-"

"Sure, you can stay if you want." Yuzu interrupted, scooting over on the bed to allow room for her sister.

"Thanks," Karin said, before climbing onto the bed. She set her phone down on the bedside table closet to her, then settled down. It was quiet for a couple minutes. The only sound was the fan circling over and over again. Her eyes had finally adjusted, and she had been studying here sister. She was laying back with her eyes open, staring at the ceiling. "So dad said Orihime came by. What for?"

Yuzu shrugged after a moment. "Just to talk."

When Yuzu didn't say anything more, Karin realized her sister had no interest in talking about the reason for Orihime's visit. "Yuzu?"

"Yeah?"

Karin reached over, and put her hand on top of her sister's. "I know we don't live in the same room anymore, but I'm always here if you need me."

It was quiet for a long moment, and finally Yuzu's eyes closed as she released a long sigh. "I know."

* * *

 **A/N: Karin and Yuzu certainly have had very different experiences since coming back from their program. Karin seems to have all these plans and activities she's throwing herself into, and Yuzu hardly gets out of bed. We also got to hear from Toshiro again this chapter. How do you think his and Karin's conversation will go? And also, do you think Yuzu will get out of this funk? My favorite scene of the chapter was the end scene for sure. I love the bond these two sisters have, and how Karin's genuinely concerned for her sister. What was your favorite scene?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

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	3. Catching Up

_Review:_

 _When Yuzu didn't say anything more, Karin realized her sister had no interest in talking about the reason for Orihime's visit. "Yuzu?"_

" _Yeah?"_

 _Karin reached over, and put her hand on top of her sister's. "I know we don't live in the same room anymore, but I'm always here if you need me."_

 _It was quiet for a long moment, and finally Yuzu's eyes closed as she released a long sigh. "I know."_

* * *

 **The next day, July 2nd**

"Alright thank you so much," Karin said before hanging up her phone. Finishing writing down what the other person had told her, then she released a long sigh. "That was quick."

"What was that about?" Isshin asked, an eyebrow raised in her direction. "You've never really been a talking on the phone type person."

"I got a job interview," Karin replied, a big smile on her face as she walked over to sit on the arm of the couch her dad was on. "Apparently they could use a receptionist at the gym. When I went in to ask if they were hiring, one of the trainers put in a good word for me. It's at four today."

"Why so late?"

"Well they are open all day. They figured that'd be the best time to fit me in," Karin replied, her eyes going back to her phone to check the time. "And since I'm already taken up until two thirty with babysitting Emi, that should at least give me enough time to get ready for the interview."

"An interview at the gym?" Orihime's questioning voice was heard, as she and Ichigo walked in from the back porch. She had Mina in her arms, and was moving to go place her in her rocker sleeper. "That's great. You go there so much that it probably wouldn't be that hard for you to figure it out."

Karin nodded, as her eyes fell down to Mina. Her niece was fast asleep, and adorable as ever. Pulling up her camera on her phone, she snapped a couple pictures, as she continued talking. "Apparently if I get the job, I don't have to pay for a membership, they will be flexible with my schedule, and it's $7.25 an hour. Which is twice as much as what I was getting for the library and the rec center before school ended."

"Well it's great that you got an interview, and I hope it works out for you." Isshin said, finding himself studying Karin. She seemed completely relaxed at the idea of interviewing for a job.

"So," Ichigo said after a moment of silence. "When exactly are Mai and Hikari going to show up?"

"Anytime. We're supposed to go to lunch with them, and then they have a meeting with a relator for a potential new house. Then I will come back and get Mina, and you have training to get to." Orihime reminded him, smiling back at the smile he was giving her.

At Orihime mentioning the fact that she and Ichigo would be leaving soon, Isshin's eyes went back to Karin. "Are you sure you are up to babysit Mina and Emi together? It's not going to be easy with a baby, and a toddler running around on top of that-"

"Dad I'll be fine," Karin interrupted with a lazy wave of her hand. "If anything, it'll be a learning experience."

"You know Karin, I really want you to meet my niece Raya," Orihime started, an idea playing in her mind of Karin and Raya getting along nicely. "You'd love her."

"I'm down whenever-" The sound of a knock on the door interrupted Karin. Jumping up from the arm of the couch, Karin strolled over to the door to open it. Her eyes widened at the sight of the dark brown hair and hazel eyes that belonged to Ryuu.

Ryuu slipped his hands in his pockets, as he kept her eyes. "Hey Karin-"

"What are you doing here?" Karin sharply interrupt him.

Looking clearly taken aback by Karin's tone and interruption, one of Ryuu's hands slipped up to rub the back of his neck. "I thought we could talk-"

This time it was Karin's sarcastic sounding laughter that interrupted Ryuu's words. Her arms crossed over her chest. "Oh that's real funny. Especially considering the fact that you spent nearly the entire three weeks I was gone practically not talking to me at all, and I figured after our last conversation you would take a hint," she paused, as she uncrossed her arms to grab the door. "So let me be perfectly clear: I have no interest in talking to you. Ever again."

Without giving Ryuu an opportunity to say a word, Karin shut the door rather harshly. Turning around to face everyone else, she clapped her hands together at the sight of their staring. "I forgot to mention; I broke up with Ryuu. But let's not make a big deal about it because I'm over it."

That's all Karin said before she crossed the living room to go upstairs. It was quiet for a long moment, then finally Isshin sighed. "What just happened?"

"I didn't even know they broke up." Orihime added, as she was equally confused as Ichigo and Isshin here.

The silence was broken by the sound of Ichigo's laughter. Another knock on the door was heard, and he got up to get it this time. Having noticed it was Mai and Hikari through the window. "This is turning out to be a great day."

"So where is Ryuu going?" Mai asked as soon as she and Hikari walked in. She was balancing Emi on her hip, and raising an eyebrow at the others. "We just passed him as he was skateboarding down the sidewalk. I hope we didn't ruin him and Karin spending time together."

"Apparently that isn't a problem," Orihime started, still slightly shocked. "They broke up."

Mai's face held the same shock as Orihime's. "Why?"

"Because," Karin's voice was heard, as she reappeared from upstairs. Her focus going to Emi, as her eyes lit up at the sight of the toddler. Walking over she accepted Emi from Mai. "Hey, it's my favorite girl. I've missed you so much."

"Me too!" Emi replied, clapping her hands together, as she giggled.

At Karin not saying anything else about Ryuu, Mai cleared her throat. "So about Ryuu-"

"Not talking about it. It's done. It's over. It's history," Karin interrupted, as she adjusted Emi a bit on her hip. "Now you all go enjoy your lunch. I'm going to try not to kidnap your children and take them for myself."

With that declared, there was a moment of Mai and Hikari saying good bye to Emi. Hikari's eyes met Karin's. "She should be set to go down for her nap in about an hour. So that might make it easier for you."

Karin nodded, watching as everyone seemed to be getting up to walk out the door. Her eyes went to her dad after the others left. She could see the concerned look in his eye. "Dad, don't worry. I'll be fine. Orihime will be back to pick up Mina in a couple hours, and Mai and Hikari should be back an hour or two after that. I can handle this."

"I know you can," Isshin replied after a moment, sighing as he slipped his shoes on. "I have a late shift tonight. So I won't be back until late tonight. Whenever your sister gets up from her nap, tell her I said goodbye."

That had Karin sighing and rolling her eyes. "Whenever that will be."

Deciding not to comment on that, Isshin nodded, and headed towards the door. "Alright, call me if you need me."

"Will do, bye dad," Karin replied just as her dad walked out the door. Looking over to Emi, she smiled. "We're going to have so much fun that you're going to be ready to take your nap on time."

"No nap!" Emi exclaimed followed with giggling.

Emi's exclamation seemed to stir Mina a bit. Karin reached over, and returned Mina's pacifier back to her mouth and it seemed to soothe the baby back to sleep. Smiling at Emi, she tickled her tummy. "Okay, new plan. We're going to go play some music in the study, and let Mina nap. Then we'll see what happens with your nap. We got this."

 **A couple days later, Monday, July 4th**

Walking on her tiptoes down the stairs, Yuzu sat down before she could reach the bottom to listen in. She could hear her dad talking on the phone about going to work, and he'd be there soon. There was some muffled conversation, then she heard the front door open and close. It wasn't until she heard him start his car, and then drive away that she got up to go the rest of the way down the stairs.

After grabbing an easy breakfast of pop-tarts and orange juice, she sighed, as she moved to the living room to sit on the couch. She used to always sit at the table for every meal, but after the past few weeks she had gotten used to eating everywhere else but an actual table.

Earlier that morning she had sat up in her room, listening to Karin running around upstairs to get ready for her first official day of work at the gym. It was just as Karin was leaving the house that her dad had started to get ready to go to work. To avoid having any conversation, she had to pretend to be asleep when he poked his head in her room to say goodbye. Sighing at the thought of all the avoiding she's been doing lately. Although the buzz sound coming from her phone got her attention.

 _Hinata: Where have you been? We need to catch up ASAP!_

For the first time since she got home from her program, Yuzu felt a flicker of excitement run through her. Immediately dropping her pop-tarts, she quickly started to text back. _Let's go do lunch at Alona's._

 _Hinata: Alright, one hour?_

Yuzu texted back that would be good, then set her phone down. Staring at her pop-tart and orange juice for a long moment, she then jumped up from the could. Feeling that her hair definitely could use a good wash, and she could probably go for a face mask too. Forgetting about her late morning breakfast, she started up the stairs. A smile edging its way on her face.

 **A couple hours later, one in the afternoon**

Walking out of the gym, Karin sighed, but held a smile on her face. She just completed her first official shift at the gym. She had got there at nearly seven that morning, and it was just past one now. _I think I'm going to like it here. Everyone's super nice, and I can't believe I managed to get the job so quickly. I applied on Friday, my interview was Saturday, and my first day was today. This worked out perfectly… When does that ever happen?_

"So are you planning on walking all the way home?"

Hearing a familiar voice, Karin looked up from her phone, as she slipped her sunglasses on. "Akira?" she questioned, her eyes focusing on the older black haired girl was leaning against the navy blue hood of what she guessed was her car. "I was going to jog home actually."

"I have a proposition for you," Akira started, a smirk on her face. "And Yuzu too, of course."

"And that would be?" Karin questioned when Akira didn't say anything else.

Keeping a smirk on her face, Akira straightened up. "Can I give you a ride home?"

It was quiet for a moment, then Karin shrugged. "Sure."

Soon enough, the two were in Akira's car, and heading in the direction of Karin's house. It wasn't until they reached the first red light that Akira looked over to Karin. "I want to start training you."

Karin's eyes widened as they met Akira's. "Seriously?"

"Seriously. I know I'm not as nice to look at as the shinigami captain who has worked with you so far-"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Karin interrupted quickly, then she crossed her arms and cough. "But continue."

Akira smirked, as her eyes moved back forward when the light turned green. "I've been doing this for a while. I activated my powers when I was thirteen, and I've had a lot of practice. I wanted to offer to help you and your sister learn how to utilize your power properly."

A smile slowly moved its way on Karin's face at the idea of working with her power more. "I'll have to talk to Yuzu, but I don't really know if she'd even want to. She's been acting weird," she said, her eyes going to her phone when it buzzed. Seeing it was a message from Toshiro, she turned her phone over, and looked over to Akira. "So when would we start?"

 **Yuzu's POV**

"You had sex!"

"God Hinata," Yuzu shot back hurriedly, as she grabbed her friend's hand to pull her across the cross walk. They were walking back over to the part of town where their houses were, as they had just finished up lunch. "Could you be anymore loud?"

Hinata's eyes were wide like saucers as she stared at Yuzu. "I'm sorry, you just told me you lost your virginity. Did you expect me to be calm?"

"Well I didn't expect you to yell it out for everyone to hear," Yuzu replied quickly. Shoving her hair out of her face after the wind blew it in the way. "I should have warned you to not be so shocked I guess."

Raising an eyebrow at Yuzu's words, Hinata studied her friend for a long moment. "Why am I sensing the feeling that your not happy about it?"

"What would make you say that?" Yuzu countered, crossing her arms, as her eyes remained forward.

"Well," Hinata said, still watching Yuzu as they walked the sidewalk. "Losing your virginity is pretty important. I imagine it to be exciting and special… I'm not getting that vibe from you right now."

"It wasn't that it wasn't exciting or special," Yuzu started, as they crossed another street. She kept silent up until they finally reached what appeared to be Hinata's house, as her friend had stopped. She finally met Hinata's eyes, as she felt tears come to her own. "I just feel so damn guilty."

"Yuzu." Hinata said, frowning at the clear sadness in her friend's eyes, as she was quick to hug Yuzu.

Crying for what seemed like the thousandth time since this all happened, Yuzu shook her head. "I wanted to wait. I wasn't ready to have sex. Taro knew that, but I kept telling him it was okay. That I wanted to… I ruined what could have been a real relationship."

"Maybe it's not ruined," Hinata offered, pulling back from the hug to look at Yuzu. "You and Taro can just talk about it. You don't have to have sex again."

"Hinata, I can barely think about what happened without having a mental breakdown. Ever since we came home, I've been stuck in this mindset that the world is practically ending," Yuzu said, sniffling as she tried to stop the warm tears from trickling down her face. "Everyone around me, my friends and family are living their lives, and wondering why I'm not my usual self… I changed a lot while I was gone sure, but I'm pretty sure that the fact that I can barely get out bed everyday is not healthy behavior."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Because I didn't want to tell anyone at first. I wanted to keep it to myself and forget it. But then I slipped and told Orihime. Now that she knows, it's been nice to have her helping. But there is only so much she can do," Yuzu finally took a step back, and wiped under her eyes. Taking the necessary breaths to calm herself. "She has her baby and her own life to live. I can't keep calling her late at night to have someone to talk to in order to help me get some sort of sleep."

Hinata was quiet as she studied Yuzu, and she finally propped her hands on her hips. "So you don't want to talk to Taro, but you don't want to keep feeling this way? You want to feel better?" She questioned Yuzu, who nodded to answer her questions. "Well it looks like I have my work cut out for me."

"Hinata, I don't want it to just be all on your shoulders-"

"That's what friends are for. To have each others backs," Hinata interrupted Yuzu, finally smiling again. "You're hurting. It sucks, but we need to make you happy again. You can always depend on me. I'll be there for you whenever."

They fell into silence for a minute, as they stared at one another. Finally Yuzu stepped forward and hugged Hinata again. "Thank you."

 **A half-hour later**

Reaching the driveway to her house, Yuzu stopped to eye her house. The sight of a navy blue car driving away caught her, and she could just barely make out Akira behind the wheel. Offering a half-wave back to the older girl, she turned to start towards the front door. She could hear Karin celebrating something loudly before she could open the door. When she did open it, the loudness just got worse. "What are you screaming about?"

Realizing that her sister was home, Karin stopped from where she was jumping on the couch, as her eyes lit up. Still clad in the clothes she had wore to work, she hopped right over to Yuzu. "Where were you?"

"Out catching up with my friend," Yuzu replied, an eyebrow raised at Karin's overly cheerful attitude and the way she had been jumping around. "Was working as a receptionist really that exciting? You're all jumping around and-"

"Akira offered to train the both of us!" Karin interrupted loudly, as she started laughing again. "Like for real train us. We can learn how to really use our powers! No longer standing on the sidelines!"

It went quiet after Karin's words, as Yuzu just stared at her sister. "I don't think so."

Yuzu's words clearly took Karin aback as her jaw dropped. "I'm sorry what? You don't want to train?"

"No," Yuzu replied, crossing her arms over her chest and sighing. "I really don't… I think it's best if we just treat me like I don't have powers."

"Are you serious? It'd be so cool, and a lot of fun. We'd be badasses-"

"You can be an all powerful badass on your own," Yuzu interrupted her sister. "I really don't want anything do with it."

Watching her sister for a long moment, Karin hummed lowly. "Well a little self-defense won't be that bad-"

"I said 'no' Karin." Yuzu spoke sharply, then she moved to go upstairs. Once in her room, she dropped her bag down on her bed, and began to pace. Feeling some anger at the idea of training. Walking over to her desk, she grabbed her journal, and flipped to a new page to write.

 _July 4th_

 _I once again find myself angry. I spent the past couple hours with Hinata, catching up, and actually enjoying myself for once. Then I come home to Karin going off about how Akira wants to train the both of us. I don't want to train. I don't even want to have powers! My entire family has powers and… I hate it! I just want to be normal. I don't want to have to spend every minute of my life hearing about hollows and arrancars and powers. After spending the past few years of my life dealing with Ichigo and his powers, I don't want to go through the same thing._

Stopping her writing, Yuzu clenching the pen in her hand. _I'm not going to get sucked in. I'm going to be normal, and I'm going to love it._

 **Downstairs**

It was silent in the room as Karin watched her sister go upstairs. She could feel the tense atmosphere that she had created. _Why is Yuzu being so snappy? There's nothing wrong with getting some training in. I think we could use it. With everything that's gone on with Ichigo and Orihime, it would be nice to be able to help them keep Mina safe. Plus, it'd be fun. I just think Yuzu doesn't realize how cool our powers really are. She's never really used them befor_ _e-_ The sound of her phone buzzing got her attention. Picking it up off the table to see a text from Toshiro.

 _Toshiro: You want to hang out?_

Reading his text over a couple times, Karin felt an anxious feeling at the idea of what they'd talk about. _I spent the last few days so busy that I haven't had a chance to even think about talking to him. What if he doesn't really want to pursue anything with me, and just wants to be friends? I don't think I could do that without being a completely awkward human…_ Trailing off, she sighed finally, and texted him back. _Uh, I already have something planned for tonight. Another time._

With that sent, she eyed their other texts, and it was just full of him asking to see her and her avoiding it. _Why can't I just get it over with? I can't avoid him forever._ Even as she thought that, she turned her phone on silent, and slipped it in her bag. Going upstairs to shower and forget the whole thing.

* * *

 **A/N: So right now we are seeing Yuzu wanting to feel better. She realizes she's depressed, and doesn't want to feel that way anymore. She also has strong feelings about not wanting to train or have powers. Meanwhile, Karin is ecstatic about the idea of training. Her family now knows that she and Ryuu broke up, and she started her new job. She also seems to be having some anxiety about the conversation that she and Toshiro need to have. Is it just her over-thinking or do you think there is a reason for her anxiety? My favorite scene was by far when Karin slammed the door in Ryuu's face. What was yours?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**

 **Also be sure to check out my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot .com (no spaces)**


	4. The Conversation

_Review:_

 _With that sent, she eyed their other texts, and it was just full of him asking to see her and her avoiding it. Why can't I just get it over with? I can't avoid him forever. Even as she thought that, she turned her phone on silent, and slipped it in her bag. Going upstairs to shower and forget the whole thing._

* * *

 **The next day, July 5th**

The sight of Orihime's reflection in the mirror had Karin stop jump roping, and turn to face the door of the room she was in at the gym. Pulling her ear buds from her ears. "Oh crap, what time is it?"

"It's a few minutes past nine," Orihime replied, adjusting how she was holding Mina's carrier. "But don't worry, I only waited five minutes before coming in."

Having grabbed some water, Karin could see on her phone that she had some missed text messages and calls. Grabbing her bag, Karin turned to leave with Orihime. "Yeah sorry. I got off work at seven thirty, then I wanted to get my workout in. I was doing some hard cardio today, and I just lost track of time."

Once they were outside the gym, after a quick pause for Karin to say goodbye to her co-workers, Orihime glanced her way. "You've been so busy lately. It seems like all day, everyday you are doing something."

"I mean I just like to stay busy," Karin replied, as they reached the car. She got in the passenger side, and turned to watch Orihime putting Mina's car seat in. Her mind went to the fact that the past few days had really been her making herself so busy that she wouldn't have to talk to Toshiro about the status of what exactly was going on between them. "These past few days have been a whirlwind."

"I'll say," Orihime started, finishing up with Mina, then she moved to get in the driver's seat. Starting up the car, she began heading towards the Kurosaki house. "That summer program must have been real good for you-"

"Toshiro and I kissed." Karin blurted out without really thinking about it.

Orihime's eyes widened, as her jaw dropped slightly. She reached over, and turned off the already low volume music that was playing. "I'm sorry, what?"

Feeling as if finally admitting to it pushed the weight off her shoulders, Karin felt the urge to spill everything. "Well, I kissed him, but then we didn't really stop kissing after that. It wasn't anything more than just kissing, but we kissed."

It was quiet for a long moment while Orihime focused on the road in front of them. Finally she took a deep breath. "Okay you and Toshiro kissed."

Raising an eyebrow at Orihime's response, Karin crossed her arms over her chest. "Wait, you're not mad?"

"No, why would I be mad?"

"Well…" Karin trailed off at the sound of Mina starting to fuss. Turning a little in her seat, she reached back and found Mina had spit out her pacifier. Putting it back in the infant's mouth seemed to soothe her. Focusing back on Orihime, she continued speaking. "He's not exactly my age, and he's also one of your best friends."

"Why is why I know he's a good guy, and why I believe you when you said it was just kissing," Orihime replied, then she scowled. "Although I have to say it does irritate me that he didn't tell me."

"It's because he knows I don't want anyone to find out," Karin replied as she rubbed her temples. "Which shouldn't be that big of a deal, but everything in my life seems to be complicated. I feel like my family wouldn't understand- I mean your my family now too, obviously. But I know you understand."

"Is it still going on?"

Karin was quiet as she contemplated that. "I don't know."

Raising an eyebrow at Karin's response, Orihime looked over to her once they stopped at a red light. "I think it'd be pretty obvious if it was."

"Well, I've been avoiding him," Karin said, shrugging her shoulders at Orihime's look. "I don't know if I can face the conversation. What if he doesn't want anything more? I would just be a completely awkward human about everything, and I want to avoid situations like that at all possible."

Starting the car forward again, Orihime continued her questioning. "Was this before or after breaking up with Ryuu?"

"After, like five days after. It wasn't like we planned it," Karin replied, then she sighed. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

Orihime was quiet as they parked outside the Kurosaki house finally. Looking over, she noticed Karin had her eyes closed. "Do you want to be in a relationship with Toshiro?"

Opening her eyes, Karin met Orihime's eyes. "I… I have too much anxiety for this."

That finally had Orihime laughing. "I guess it makes sense as to why you have been so busy since you got home."

"Yeah, I've been avoiding this conversation that Toshiro and I will eventually have... I mean I really do want to start thinking and preparing for my future, but it's also me busying myself," Karin said, as she unbuckled her seat belt. Turning to say goodbye to Mina, who she was sure was already asleep, Karin then got out of the car. "Speaking of thinking and preparing for my future, it's practically the opposite of what Yuzu is doing."

Orihime put a smile on her face at that, as she knew exactly why Yuzu was acting the way she was. "Well she might just have some stuff on her mind."

"I don't know what it is, but it's completely unlike her." Karin replied, then she said her goodbyes and stepped back so Orihime could back the car out of the driveway. Watching until she couldn't see Orihime's car anymore, she sighed, and looked up at the stars in the sky. _I can't believe I told Orihime just like that. I thought she'd be weirded out since he is her best friend and all. I'm kinda glad I did. It'll be nice to have someone to talk to about this._

 **Yuzu's POV**

Having pulled out her sketch pad for the first time since returning home last week, Yuzu had initially felt like drawing something. However, she found herself without inspiration after a while of trying to think of something to draw. _My life is so boring right now. A week ago, I was going out with my friends and having an adventure every single day… Now, I've hardly left the house since I came home, and everyday is the same._

A knock on the cracked door was heard, then in came Isshin. His eyes on his daughter. "Hey I was just going to come in and say goodnight. Your sister finally made it home."

"Goodnight." Yuzu replied, her eyes remaining down on the blank page of her paper.

Raising an eyebrow at Yuzu's one worded response, Isshin cleared his throat. "Are you feeling okay angel? I know I keep asking, but it seems like you've been kind of secluding yourself the past week. We hardly see you, and you don't say much when we do. I'm just a little concerned here."

"Dad, I've already said I'm fine..." Yuzu trailed off, then she sighed and sat up a bit. "Look, I'm getting older and somethings change. I'm still the same person that I was before I left, but I'm just going through some of those life changes."

Isshin was quiet for a long moment, as he stared back at his daughter. "Well alright. If anything is bothering you or you feel like you are ever in any trouble, you can always talk to me."

"I know I just-" Yuzu broke off sighing. "There's just nothing wrong. I'm being a moody teenager."

"Right… Well I love you Yuzu. I hope you sleep good."

"Love you," Yuzu replied, watching as her dad left her room. Leaving it back to the silence it had been before. Glancing back down at her sketch pad, she still couldn't think of anything to draw. However, an idea soon popped into her head that had her dropping the sketch pad on her bed and grabbing her phone to text Hinata. _What are you up to?_

 _Hinata:_ Nothing much, just sketching some stuff.

Yuzu: I was trying to do that too. Couldn't figure out what to draw. Want to go out?

Hinata: What do you have in mind? It's past midnight.

Yuzu: It's a surprise. Just meet me on the trail that goes behind our houses. Right by the big lamp post that has all the rose bushes surrounding it, and it's across the street from the big oak tree.

Hinata: Okay just give me a few minutes to sneak out, and I'll meet you there.

With that confirmed, Yuzu stared down at her phone for a long time, then she grinned. Getting off her bed, she pulled on a light jacket, and pulled her hair up. She began to feel this excited feeling run through her at the idea of sneaking out of the house this late. Sure back during the program it was easier to sneak out, but never here at the house. The sound of her phone buzzing caught her before she could grab some shoes. Picking it up to see Taro's name, she actually felt bold enough to open the text to read it.

 _Taro: Yuzu… I miss you. We need to talk._

Reading that sentence over and over again, Yuzu took a deep breath, and finally started to type back after a minute. _I know… I just need time._

With that said, she silenced her phone, put it in her pocket, and slipped out of her room. It wasn't until she was successfully out of the house, that she laughed. Spinning around happily, as the moonlight poured down on her. The thrill of sneaking out running through her veins, it reminded her of some of her adventures on her program. Starting down the path in the direction of her meeting spot with Hinata, Yuzu was ready to take on what promised to be the first good adventure since returning home.

 **Early in the morning, 6th of July**

Getting up the stairs, Yuzu tip-toed down the hall to her room. She felt her heart race as she went, as she was just waiting for a door to open. It wasn't until she safely made it into her room without getting caught that Yuzu released the breath she had been holding. A big grin stretched across her face, as she took off her shoes and jacket.

She met up with Hinata, who ended up inviting Shin and Yukio as well. They walked along the trail that went behind the houses in Yuzu's neighborhood, then they made their way to the big bridge. Settling alongside the bridge, they had spent hours and hours talking and catching up. Having never snuck out of the house before, Yuzu was slightly nervous about getting caught at first, but her friends made that nervous feeling go away. It was wonderful, therapeutic, and kind of exhilarating.

After slipping on her pajamas, Yuzu closed the curtains over her windows, and climbed into bed. She turned her light off, and moved to lay down. With her head resting back on her pillows, she sighed at the dark room around her. It was almost four in the morning, and she was feeling the tiredness. However, it wasn't like the depressed exhausted feeling she had been having. _It feels nice to be able to distinguish that feeling. To be able to feel tired because I'm actually tired, and not because I've been depressed…_ The thought brought a smile back to Yuzu's face. She turned over, and pressed her head into her pillow. Her eyes closed, as she sleep took over.

 **Later that day, 3 p.m.**

Taking some deep breaths, Karin felt an ache in her muscles that she hadn't ever felt before. Around eight that morning she told her dad that she and Kimi were going to be working out together, then hanging out the rest of that day. However, she left out the part that she wasn't really going to be with Kimi, but with Akira. They finally started her training, and she wasn't quite sure she wanted to tell her dad just yet that she even had powers to begin with.

"Ready to go again?" Akira's question was heard from across the large training room. They were borrowing the cabin space that Orihime had originally started her training with Toshiro when she was still pregnant. It had been Akira's idea to use the space since Karin wanted to keep her training more private.

"Give me a second," Karin said, clenching and unclenching the hand she had been using to utilize her power. "My whole arm feels like it is going to fall off."

Akira smirked, as she crossed her arms over her chest. "That's normal, you've done a lot today. You can switch to use your other arm if you want."

"Does that mean I'm starting over from the beginning?" Karin asked, and at the sight of Akira nodding, she shook her head. "Yeah no, I'll suck it up. I'm close to getting this I think. It was just so much easier to use my powers while I was still at my music program."

"Could it be the difference in who's teaching you?" Akira asked, a growing smirk on her face.

"Ha ha," Karin shot back sarcastically, as she moved to ready herself to try again. "I just haven't had a chance to use my powers since coming home. It's not like I can just go and take out a hollow now that I'm home. There's shinigami everywhere that will just take one look at me and tell my dad or Ichigo. Or better yet, it would probably be one of them that would catch me."

"I mean it doesn't have to be a secret-" Akira broke off at Karin's glare, and she sighed. "Look it's one hundred percent your choice, and I'll support you either way. I'm just curious as to how long you plan on having to keep up with a secret like this. Because, if I'm being honest, it's going to get harder. We'll have more training sessions, and that means more times you'll have to make up excuses as to where you are to your dad. Plus with how busy your other activities are going to keep you, your dad might wonder why you literally never come home-"

"It'll be fine," Karin interrupted quickly, just as a surge of power went through arm. Producing a katana shaped from the energy she was releasing. Grasping the hilt of the katana, her eyes met Akira's wide ones. "Okay, so apparently you just need to stress me out in order for my powers to work."

Akira laughed and shook her head. "I wonder would happen if I made you angry, damn! I wasn't able to do that trick until I was almost seventeen. I thought you were joking with me."

Eying the katana in her hand, Karin watched the energy moving through the blade. "No joking here. Just an extremely annoyed student at how long it took to do this again. I could do it in a 30 seconds flat back in New Luna City-"

The sound of clapping interrupted Karin's words, and both her and Akira's eyes moved over to the open doorway to the room. The white hair and turquoise eyes immediately identified the shinigami captain. "I can attest to that."

It seemed to go dead silent in the room after Toshiro's words. Akira's eyes moved back and forth between Karin and Toshiro, and finally stopped on Karin who was glaring at her. "I thought nobody would show up okay?"

"No, it's fine," Karin said, a sarcastic note in her voice. "I just _really_ hope my family finds out what I'm doing so they'd stop me."

"I don't really think they'd-"

"Have you met my brother?" Karin interrupted Akira, dissolving the katana from her hands, then she crossed her arms. "He basically wants me to sit in a bubble for the rest of my life, I really don't think he'd be okay-"

"And you think I'm going to tell on you," Toshiro interrupted, a smirk on his face. "Do you even really know me?"

Silence filled the area once again. Akira finally cleared her throat after looking at her phone. "We've been here about six hours, so I guess this is a good time to end for the day. Karin, you're probably going to be sore tomorrow, so be sure to rest up and ice when you can."

"Great," Karin mumbled under her breath. She realized that probably came off as rude, and she sighed as Akira had turned to leave. "Thank you! I'll try not to sound like an ungrateful brat next time."

Akira lifted a hand as if to wave it off. "No worries, I'll text you later so we can figure out when we can train again."

After Akira left the room, Karin remained where she was for a long moment. Not moving or speaking. When she did finally move it was to turn away from where Toshiro was to grab her water.

"So," Toshiro started as he walked more into the room to be closer to where she was. "The last few days have been interesting."

"I've been avoiding you," Karin admitted bluntly, as she turned to face him. Taking another sip of water, she propped a hand on her hip. "I don't know why really. It's just that after the welcome back party Yuzu and I had, I just got anxious thinking about this conversation that we are going to have. I didn't know what to expect. It's been honestly kind of stressing me out. So I've been busying myself over the past few days to avoid the conversation and to try to stop myself from thinking about it."

Raising an eyebrow when Karin finished speaking, Toshiro's smirk still remained on his face. "It doesn't need to be that difficult."

"No I know that," Karin replied, setting her water down, then she began to hurriedly put her things in her bag. "I don't know what's been happening to me lately. I feel like a psychopath. First with what happened with Ryuu, then recently with you-"

"To be fair, you weren't really asking for much when it came to Ryuu," Toshiro interrupted her, as he placed a hand down on her bag to get her to stop rushing to put her stuff away. "Communication is important to you. It's not that hard, yet he couldn't do it. You weren't be a psychopath then."

Karin was quiet for a brief moment, then she finally looked him in the eye. "So I'm a psychopath now?"

A smirk returned to Toshiro's face, as he moved to take her hand. He guided her to turn to fully face him. "No. But you might become one if you keep up this whole stressed out and busy all the time thing you've been doing. So I'm going to ask you this," he paused before taking a deep breath. "Is there something going on between us?"

It was quiet as Karin watched Toshiro, she still felt her heart beating rapidly in her chest. Partially from having just finished training, and mostly from the second she saw Toshiro in the room. Accompanying her rapidly beating heart was the fluttering feeling that made her feel happy and excited all at once. Stepping forward, she raised on her toes to kiss him. The feeling inside of her intensified just like it had with their first kiss back during the music program. When they broke the kiss after a moment, she slowly lowered herself back down to flat feet, as her eyes opened to meet his. Feeling slightly breathless, a smile grew on her face. "I hope so."

* * *

 **A/N: Another chapter down! I really loved this chapter because I felt like we got to see Yuzu really make that effort to get out and make a change in her life. She even managed to text Taro back for the first time since their last encounter. We also see some development in what is going on with Toshiro and Karin. Now that Toshiro and Karin have determined there is something going on between them what do you think this means for them?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**

 **Also be sure to check out my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot .com (no spaces)**


	5. Secrets

_Review:_

" _Is there something going on between us?"_

 _It was quiet as Karin watched Toshiro, she still felt her heart beating rapidly in her chest. Partially from having just finished training, and mostly from the second she saw Toshiro in the room. Accompanying her rapidly beating heart was the fluttering feeling that made her feel happy and excited all at once. Stepping forward, she raised on her toes to kiss him. The feeling inside of her intensified just like it had with their first kiss back during the music program. When they broke the kiss after a moment, she slowly lowered herself back down to flat feet, as her eyes opened to meet his. Feeling slightly breathless, a smile grew on her face. "I hope so."_

* * *

 **A little over a week later, July 15th**

"So is this going to be our thing now?"

"What do you mean by "this"?"

"Sneaking out every night to go to the bridge and kick it?"

"I don't know it might be… My dad's pretty easy to get by without him noticing me. It's pretty easy each day too. I just have this really huge secret I'm keeping from him and my family, but I don't think they need to know I've been sneaking out every night this past week. I feel bad for you though Hinata. It sounds like your parents watch you like a hawk."

"Well not everyone can use the excuse that your just a changing teenager Yuzu," Hinata replied with a laugh. "I mean I could, but my parents know me so well."

"So where are our lovely friends?" Yuzu asked as they reached their designated meeting spot at the big bridge. The occasional car passing by them. Climbing up, she perched up on top of the railing. "Shin and Yukio are almost always here before us."

"Well that's because we usually get distracted talking," Hinata replied, moving to join Yuzu up on the railing, but she remained standing. "About how we're extremely depressed and how our lives sucks."

"Um that's only me," Yuzu shot back, her eyes glancing back to Hinata who walked along the bridge's railing. "You're life is perfectly normal."

Laughing at Yuzu's words, Hinata wobbled a bit on the railing, and reached to steady herself on one of the many large polls. "I guess that's why we work so well. One of us is normal and the other is-"

"Dysfunctional?" Yuzu interrupted, grinning at Hinata's laughter. "I used to say the same thing about my sister and I. I was focused and normal, and she was a dysfunctional mess. But somehow she's the one who's focused, and I can barely tell what day it is each day."

"Well you have a reason to be dysfunctional-"

"Why is Yuzu dysfunctional?" Shin's question got both the girl's attention over to where both he and Yukio approached.

"No reason." Yuzu and Hinata chorused, as Hinata turned to walk back closer. Her eyes focusing on the boys. "So why were you two late?"

"Like you and Yuzu aren't late everytime we come here," Yukio shot back, a smirk on his face as he crossed his arms. "We went and got something to eat, and it took longer than usual."

"And you didn't invite us?" Hinata asked, smirking right back at Yukio.

"Well I'm still waiting for you to agree to go on a date with me-"

"Changing the subject!" Hinata hollered, laughing along with the others. She finally grinned at Yukio. "We'll see about that."

Before Yukio could respond, Yuzu jumped down from the railing, and pulled her phone out. "It's almost midnight, and I'd really like to get across the bridge to get the right angle to sketch." She said, as she turned to start down the sidewalk. Her eyes moving over to see Shin falling into step with her.

"How long do you think it'll be before they start dating each other?"

Shin's question had Yuzu glancing back to where Hinata and Yukio trailed several feet behind them. Shrugging her shoulders after a moment, Yuzu focused back forward. "I'm surprised they haven't already. The whole time during our art program they flirted with each other, and it's just gotten ten times more obvious now that we're back home."

"What about you and Taro? Have you talked to him yet?"

After holding off for a while, Yuzu finally told Shin and Yukio that she and Taro were not talking a few days ago. She didn't tell them why, just that they weren't talking. At Shin bringing him up, Yuzu found herself feeling the usual throb in her chest, but she breathed through it. "No I haven't. After I texted him to give me time, he doesn't call and text me as much. He still checks in just to tell me that he hopes I'm okay, and that he's thinking about me. But, he's giving me space."

Shin studied Yuzu for a long moment, then he put a smile on his face. "So this sketch of yours? You've been working on it for the past few nights. When do you think it'll be done?"

"I don't know," Yuzu replied, pulling her sketchbook out of her bag, she looked up to the sky. "I need the perspective of different nights to get the picture I want, but it's hard when it is so dark out to make sure I'm doing it right."

"Well I'm always down to let you use the flashlight on my phone… Well at least until my arm gets tired from holding it." Shin said, grinning at Yuzu's laughter.

When Yuzu stopped laughing, she put a smile on her face. _I love nights like these. This is what has been getting me through all the negative thoughts. I feel happy._

 **The next day, July 16th**

"So what are you doing here?" Rukia asked, her eyes on Karin specifically as she, Rangiku, Renji, and Toshiro walked into Urahara's shop.

"Well," Karin paused as her eyes connected with Toshiro's. She tried to hide her smile with a cough, as her eyes went back to Rukia. "Well my dad and I just had lunch and he wanted to speak to Ichigo about something. Little did I know, my dad was going to want to spar with Ichigo. So I've been here for nearly fifteen minutes just chilling out."

"You should go out," Rangiku suggested, a grin on her face. "Hang out with your friends while you can."

"That's what I would be doing on my day off from work." Renji added, his arms crossed over his chest.

"What friends would you hang out with?" Rukia questioned Renji, a smirk on her face.

"Very funny." Renji shot back with an eye roll.

"I'm going to meet my friend now," Karin said, looking down at her phone. There was actually a message from Akira asking when she was getting her butt to training. Her eyes moved over to the door that opened, and in walked her dad, Ichigo, and Urahara. "Dad, I'm about to leave."

"Alright, have fun with Kimi." Isshin shot back, hardly glancing her way, as he had began talking to the others about his spar with Ichigo.

At everyone's distraction, Karin sighed, and moved to grab her bag. She looked up just in time to meet Toshiro's eyes, as he stopped near her.

"I have an apartment." He murmured softly to her. Knowing very well that everyone else was distracted by Ichigo and Isshin's recount of their sparring session, but still trying to keep quiet.

"Really?" Karin questioned, an eyebrow raised as she moved to leave the room. It wasn't until they were past the second set of doors that she looked back over to him again. "I always pictured you as the living outdoors in a hammock type of guy."

"Ha ha. I got it right after I got back to town at the end of June. I also got a car," Toshiro said, pausing to motion to the white BMW that was parked a few feet away. "Rangiku picked it out since I told her I didn't care. The only reason why I got it-and the apartment-I figured that since I'm going to be around town for a while, I might as well have a place to stay and a way to get around when I'm in my gigai."

Karin ran her hand slowly over the car. "You're staying in town?"

"Yeah, you know, un-finished business and things." Toshiro replied, watching her eying his car.

"And what would your un-finished business be? Secret spy stuff?" Karin asked, as she turned to meet his eyes.

"Many things secret," Toshiro said, moving over to her, as he smirked. "One of those being this."

Toshiro had pulled her closer to kiss her. Feeling the happy fluttering feeling inside of her felt nice for her whole body. But Karin's mind finally snapped back to normal, and she pulled back. "What if someone sees?"

"Everyone else is inside Urahara's shop… Well except for Orihime, who you've apparently already told about us."

Karin's eyes widened after Toshiro's words, as she laughed lightly. "You know about that?"

"Yeah," Toshiro replied, a smirk on his face. "She called me the night she had to pick you up from the gym after work. Right after she dropped you off at home."

"That was almost two weeks ago, and you're just now saying something?" Karin questioned, and at Toshiro's nod, she rubbed the back of her neck. "I guess I should probably mention that I think Akira knows too."

That only seemed to make Toshiro's smirk grow. "So why exactly are we keeping it a secret if you are telling everyone?"

"To be fair, I didn't tell Akira. She just put two and two together when Yuzu told her you were with me back in the city, and then how you just happen to keep popping up whenever I have training," Karin replied, then she sighed a long sigh. "And we're keeping it a secret because I have a feeling my dad and brother would murder both of us if they found out."

"I think you're exaggerating a bit-"

"You won't be thinking that once they do actually find out," Karin said, interrupting him, and shaking her head at his laughter. "You won't be laughing when they murder you."

"Well until I die, let's try to just enjoy ourselves." Toshiro replied, smiling at how that made her laugh. He leaned over to kiss her again.

This time Karin didn't pull away as they kissed, and it wasn't until her phone buzzed in her pocket that they stopped. Grabbing it, she sighed as she saw it was Akira calling. She quickly accepted the call to answer it. "I'm sorry Akira, I'm on my way. Be there soon."

Toshiro waited until after Karin hung up with Akira to speak again. "I knew you were going to train."

"You didn't think I would go hang out with Kimi?"

"That would be believable," Toshiro replied, but he shook his head. "But, you told me two days ago that she was going to visit her grandparents with her family."

That made a smile return to Karin's face. "You actually listened to me?"

"Believe it or not, I do," Toshiro said, smirking again as he kissed her. "Want a ride?"

"I think I'm going to jog. That way I can warm up on the way there, because I have a feeling Akira's not going to want to sit through me warming up since I'm already going to be late. Lucky for me, we're training at Akira's house today instead of the shinigami training facility in the forest. So it'll only take me fifteen minutes to get to her."

"Alright..." Toshiro trailed off, however he didn't let go of the hand of hers he was holding. "You should come by my apartment later to check it out.

Smiling at the idea, Karin nodded once. "Text me the address, and can we possibly maybe have Chinese for dinner?"

"I was thinking the same thing," Toshiro replied, kissing her one last time, then letting go of her hand. "I'll see you later."

"Bye!" Karin called back, as she started jogging away.

 **An hour later, Yuzu's POV**

"I love this game!" Yuzu exclaimed, laughing as she threw her hands up in the air.

"That's because you win half the time." Yukio said, smirking at Yuzu's celebrating.

"Half the time? More like all the time." Shin added, collecting all the cards from the table.

Hinata had a big smile on her face, as she high-fived Yuzu. "Well to be fair, it's not Yuzu's fault that she's the best poker player this world has ever seen."

"I'm not the best, but thanks," Yuzu replied, as she moved to stand up. "I'm getting more snacks, then we can play another game."

"Alright, but we're playing something else this time." Shin shot back, as he finally grabbed all the cards to shuffle them.

Moving into the kitchen, Yuzu stretched her arms up above her head. Pulling a new bag of chips and some sour cream and onion dip, then a soda from the refrigerator, Yuzu picked up on the sound of the front door opening and closing. Walking out of the kitchen, she looked over to see her dad was there. Moving to the table, she set down the chips and dip, and turned down the music that had been playing. "Hey dad."

"Hey Yuzu," Isshin started, having slipped off his shoes, and moved over towards the dining room table. His eyes going from the others to his daughter. "What's going on in here?"

"Oh I just invited some of my friends over to hang out and play a few card games," Yuzu replied, her eyes going from her dad to her friends. "That's Hinata, Yukio, and Shin. I met Yukio and Hinata during my art program, and I met Shin at the big art gala thing my school hosted before school ended."

"Right, Shin looked familiar," Isshin said, as he looked to Yuzu. Happy to see that she was socializing with others, as she usually spends most of her time in her room these days. "Well I'm just going to go get ready for work. I have a late shift tonight."

"Okay, that's cool," Yuzu said, moving to sit back down in her chair. "We're just going to hang out here for a few more hours, and I'll probably go to bed early."

"Alright, well I guess I'll be quiet coming in then," Isshin replied, once again letting his eyes go to the others. "It's nice to meet all of you."

As her friends replied back to her dad, Yuzu focused down on opening her soda. It wasn't until her dad was upstairs that she looked up to see her friends eyes on her. "What?"

"You're going to bed early?" Hinata asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Obviously I wasn't going to tell him that I was going to sneak out of the house," Yuzu replied, sipping her soda, and shaking her head. "That would be a complete fail."

"Yeah considering it's Saturday night, and there is probably a lot of fun things going on," Yukio said, his eyes on his phone. "We've got to get into something tonight."

"The bridge has been fun and all the past few days, but we got to switch it up." Shin agreed, as he began passing out cards to everyone.

Accepting the cards from Shin, Yuzu smiled at the sight of the ones she got. Her eyes going to the others. "Let's play."

 **A few hours later, seven p.m.**

"How did you get here so fast?" Was the first thing Toshiro asked once he opened the door to his apartment. "You texted me five minutes ago saying you were leaving Akira's house."

"Well," Karin started, walking into the apartment, she kissed him, then she took her bag off her back. "It turns out that Akira does indeed know about us, and she guessed I was coming over here. So she offered to drive me. She also said that if I was going to sneak around, then she'd always be there to give me a ride."

"Perfect, she's enabling your bad behavior." Toshiro shot back, a smirk on his face as he closed his apartment door.

"Bad behavior? All I'm doing is-"

"Lying to your dad about where you are."

Karin was quiet for a long moment, as they stared at one another. "Yes, but I mean it is better than the alternative where we are both dead. I've just got a secret now."

"I guess… It is nice to know she has your back at least," Toshiro replied, his eyes studying her. She had freshly showered hair, and was wearing her coffee sweatshirt, and some white jeans shorts. "How are you not dying from wearing that sweatshirt? It's really hot out."

"It didn't bother me at first," Karin said, moving to slip the sweatshirt off. Leaving her in her black sunflower crop tank top. Tossing that where she had left her bag, she kicked off her shoes, and immediately went to the food she saw on the table. "I smelled this as soon as I walked in."

"I'm surprised you didn't go immediately for the orange chicken right away."

"The thought crossed my mind, but I tried to at least greet you first," Karin said, laughing as she grabbed the orange chicken from the bag right away. After taking the first bite of it, she smiled as she looked to Toshiro. "So let's get on with this whole grand apartment tour."

"Well, as you can see, you're in the kitchen, and not far away is the open living room," Toshiro started, shaking his head at how that made Karin laugh, he grinned as they moved down a small hall to an open door, and they walked in. "And this is my bedroom, I have a closet, and a bathroom. I also have a small balcony."

"Oooo fancy." Karin teased as they crossed his bedroom to the balcony. Walking out, she noticed they had a view of the big bridge in town.

"This is the outside. I haven't gone out here yet, but it's not that bad." Toshiro said, laughing along with Karin this time.

"What made you chose this particular apartment?" Karin asked, taking another piece of orange chicken from the container.

Toshiro hummed at the thought. "Well I wanted the big living room area, because my team might come by every once in a while. I also only wanted one bedroom so it would significantly decrease the chance of them trying to stay over. I like quiet, and my team certainly is not."

That made Karin laugh, and she had to bring a hand up to her mouth as she finished chewing the chicken in her mouth. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but I'm not that quiet."

"Oh, I've noticed." Toshiro replied without hesitation.

Smirking, Karin reached over and lightly smacked his shoulder, then moved to go back inside. "Ass."

"But I like you, so it's fine," Toshiro said, following her inside, and back to the living room. His hand moved to the big TV he had set up that matched the one in his bedroom. "I also made sure I had a TV. That way we can binge-watch TV shows and things. Speaking of, I figured while we eat, we can start a show or a movie."

"Sounds good to me. My dad's working late tonight, so that gives us until probably until eleven thirty," Karin replied, smiling as she set the orange chicken container down on the coffee table, and moved to grab the rest of the food before sitting down on the very comfy couch. Her eyes going to Toshiro who walked over with two drinks for them. "Well, I like your apartment, and your car. It'll be nice to hang out with you somewhere other than the training facility in the forest. I'm also sure that Akira is probably tired of me taking water breaks all the time so I can go outside and see you."

"Well it's not my fault that I just happen to drop by whenever you're there training," Toshiro said, grinning as he sat down on the couch beside her. He moved to take the orange chicken container before she could pick it up again. Getting out a piece for himself, then he passed it to her. "What? I'm just making sure I get a piece before you eat it all."

"I would have saved you some… Probably," Karin replied laughing, then settling back on the couch cushions. "Like I was saying, I'm happy about this. Now we can just hang out over here and watch movies, or make out in your car or something."

Raising an eyebrow at that, Toshiro chuckled. "That's exactly what I got the apartment and car for."

"Shut up," Karin replied at his sarcastic tease. "All I'm saying is it'll be nice to have a place where we can actually spend time together."

"I agree. I'm in a little bit of a sarcastic mood right now." Toshiro replied, smirking at her glare.

"I've noticed."

Leaning over, Toshiro kissed her forehead, then leaned back to look at her eyes. "I mean it. I've been thinking about that since I actually bought the apartment… I'm excited to be able to see you more."

Finally putting her smile back on her face, Karin kissed him. "Okay, are we going to watch a movie or start a new TV series?"

"I said 'or something' too!" Karin shot back, rolling her eyes at his laughter.

 **Almost midnight, Yuzu's POV**

Yuzu's eyes widened as she and her friends passed through the tree line to see a huge house that had about a hundred people on the front lawn. The house itself wasn't far from the cabin that Orihime and Toshiro used to do Orihime's training in, and where Karin apparently trained now. But it was fairly secluded, and there was a less of a chance of getting caught by the cops whenever there were parties there.

Yuzu had snuck out of the house with ease to meet up with her friends who had wanted to go to this house party since it was Saturday night. She didn't have any objections, but she was feeling a bit off once they actually got there. As they walked through the crowd of people to go into the house, she kept looking around. This party had a different vibe than the parties she went to during her art program. There she new practically everyone as they were all art students attending the same program. Here it was a mixture of kids from Karakura Town, and even some from the next town over.

"Yuzu," Hinata said, having to speak a bit louder as they walked in the house. It was a mixture of loud music and voices that made it difficult to hear. Leaning closer to Yuzu, Hinata brought her hand up to try to speak better. "We're going to go look around, you coming?"

Realizing she must have spaced out, Yuzu finally tore her eyes from the party around them to meet Hinata's. "I'll catch up in a minute." She said, watching as Hinata nodded, then turned to walk with Shin and Yukio into the crowd of people. Continuing studying the environment around her, she walked more into the room. Her eyes focused down on a nice looking painting that had been knocked from the wall to the floor. She hadn't realized she stopped until she felt someone knock into the back of her. Turning, she met a pair of the lightest green eyes she's ever seen on the planet.

"Oh sorry, it's so crowded in here."

Yuzu found herself unable to reply back at first, as her eyes took in the person in front of her. It was a girl, probably her age, she had long luscious dark black hair. She had on a black leather jacket, ripped jeans, and combat boots. But it was her dark red lipstick that had Yuzu's eyes until she had to shake her head to focus. "Oh, it's no problem. I probably shouldn't have just stopped here."

"You were looking at the painting too. People can be so rude." The girl replied, as she reached over to put the painting back where it was supposed to be on the wall.

Continuing to watch the girl, Yuzu slipped her hands behind her back, and clasped them together. "I like your lipstick."

"You're staring at my lips?" The girl replied back, clearly joking, as she grinned at the blush that crossed Yuzu's cheeks. "Relax, I'm just messing with you… This is my favorite lipstick. It's inexpensive, but stays on for the most part. Plus red is such a hot a color."

Dropping her eyes down to her red tank top she was wearing, Yuzu looked back at the girl. "It's actually my favorite color."

"You know, we should be friends," the girl said, reaching over to offer Yuzu her hand. "My name is Katsumi, but all my friends call me Kat. And your name would be?"

"Yuzu… Just Yuzu."

"Well just Yuzu, let's go get a drink. I know a super secret spot that isn't as crowded as the one's in the kitchen." Kat replied, reaching over and taking Yuzu by the hand, then starting through the crowd of people.

Yuzu's eyes were slightly wide, as she looked down to where Kat was holding her hand. Feeling a little buzz feeling go through her, she let her eyes go to the back of Kat's head. "Okay."

* * *

 **A/N: Yuzu's got a thing for sneaking out now. Not only that, she's going to parties and meeting new people who wear dark red lipstick and leather jackets. Karin and Toshiro seemed to finally settle into dating each other, secretly of course. What vibes do you all get from this? From Yuzu's possible new friend, and Karin and Toshiro's secret relationship?**

 **My favorite scene was the end between Yuzu and Kat, but I loved writing the scene at Urahara's with Karin and Toshiro. What was your favorite?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**

 **Also be sure to check out my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot .com (no spaces)**


	6. Feeling High

_Review:_

" _My name is Katsumi, but all my friends call me Kat. And your name would be?"_

" _Yuzu… Just Yuzu."_

" _Well just Yuzu, let's go get a drink. I know a super secret spot that isn't as crowded as the one's in the kitchen." Kat replied, reaching over and taking Yuzu by the hand, then starting through the crowd of people._

 _Yuzu's eyes were slightly wide, as she looked down to where Kat was holding her hand. Feeling a little buzz feeling go through her, she let her eyes go to the back of Kat's head. "Okay."_

* * *

 **A little over a week later, July 25th**

Stretching his arms over his head, Toshiro felt an ache in his muscles from the mission they had they day. They were gathering information on a potential Aizen spotting and ran into some hollows that were a lot more work than they should have been. As soon as he got home he had dinner and was itching for a shower. However a knock on the door caught him before he could leave the back to his bedroom.

 _Please don't let it be one of the other shinigami wanting a place to crash. Even though I've stated that I didn't buy this place for everyone to hang out at they still don't-_ Toshiro's thoughts came to abrupt halt as he had opened the door to find Karin standing there. The night sky visible behind her, and the slight wind blowing her bangs.

"Hey," she greeted, a big smile on her face, as she let her arms fall from where they had been crossed. "Do you have plans?"

Toshiro slowly shook his head. "No, but what are you-"

"Great," Karin said, interrupting him as she walked by him into his apartment. Dropping her bag down on the coffee table like usual.

Closing the door after a moment of pause, Toshiro turned to face Karin. Feeling a mixture of surprise and confusion as to why she was here. However, before he could say anything, she was kissing him. When their kiss broke he raised an eyebrow. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but I don't know if it's a good idea that you're here. It's past eleven-"

"It's fine," Karin interrupted him again, still smiling, as she had moved her arms over his shoulders to clasp her hands back behind his neck. "My dad thinks I'm staying the night at Kimi's."

Karin had once again kissed him, but Toshiro was still hesitant in kissing her back. "He let you go over to Kimi's house at eleven at night?"

"No, he let me go over there around seven, I just left her house to come over here," Karin replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "It was actually Kimi's idea. She said that whenever she needs me to cover for her, I'll owe her one. But it's fine."

"I don't-"

"I just missed you," Karin interrupted him hurriedly, as she averted her eyes. "I spent the last three days watching Mina for Orihime and Ichigo, and we haven't got to see or talk to each other that much."

Once again Karin had kissed him, but this time Toshiro returned her kiss without any hesitation. However, he did release a sigh when they finally stopped. "I shouldn't condone this."

"But?" Karin asked, a big smile growing on her face.

At the sight of how happy she was, Toshiro finally smirked. "Pick out a movie. I need to go grab a shower."

"Yay!" Karin cheerfully exclaimed as she kissed him again, and says. "I knew you liked me."

Rolling his eyes at her dramatic words, Toshiro's smirk remained on his face. "I thought that was already established, but okay," he said, then he reached over to take her hand to keep her from turning away. Kissing her once, he smiled. "I missed you too."

Karin's smile widened, as she hummed happily. "Okay, so it's confirmed I'm not a psychopath for thinking that."

Chuckling, Toshiro turned to walk to his bedroom. "Glad I could help confirm that."

Ten minutes passed and Toshiro walked out of his bathroom, freshly showered and dressed in shorts for bed. While still towel- drying his hair, he paused in the doorway from his bathroom to his bedroom, and his eyes went to his bed. There was Karin, having clearly made herself comfortable as she was already under the covers and leaning back against the pillows.

Having noticed Toshiro appear, Karin looked away from where she was browsing through movie options on Netflix to meet his eyes. "Wow that was quick."

"It makes it easier when you don't get distracted by singing the entire Burlesque soundtrack before you get out." Toshiro shot back, finishing up towel drying his hair, and turning back to hang the towel up in the bathroom.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I've never done that before in my life," Karin replied, laughing at how that had him rolling his eyes and smirking. She reached over to grab a handful of popcorn. "Oh I made popcorn, by the way."

"I noticed," Toshiro replied, walking over to the bed, and climbing in beside her. His eyes going from the television screen to Karin. "You had ten minutes to look at movies, and you haven't picked one yet?"

"I've narrowed it down… sort of," Karin said, popping a piece of popcorn in her mouth. "Okay, well like I said, I made popcorn. Then Rose sent me a picture of her new kitten, and that was clearly a whole ordeal on its own."

Shaking his head, Toshiro grabbed the remote, and started flipping through the movies she put on the watch list. "Okay new plan. I'm going to go through them, and all you need to do is semi-pay attention to let me know what we're watching."

"Sounds good." Karin laughed, popping another piece of popcorn in her mouth.

 **Two hours later**

Walking out of the bathroom after brushing their teeth, Karin skipped over to the bed, and spun around to face Toshiro who had gone to the other side. "Well it looks like our next movie marathon is going to be all the Harry Potter movies."

"I knew I shouldn't have mentioned that I haven't watched them."

"Well if you had watched them, the movie we just watched would have made much more sense." Karin replied, putting her phone on the charger. _The Fantastic Beasts movie was pretty good. I heard they were making a sequel- well we're going to have to have to make Toshiro watch the Harry Potter series first. That's the main goal._

"At least we'll know what movie we are watching next time." Toshiro said, climbing into bed and leaning back against the pillows. An eyebrow raised in Karin's direction when he noticed her slipping her shorts off under her overlarge t-shirt.

Noticing his look, Karin shrugged and smiled. "What? You already know I don't like to sleep with shorts on."

"Did I?" Toshiro asked, still watching her as she climbed into bed beside him.

Karin paused for a moment, then continued to settle herself down on the bed. "Well I guess I just assumed you did after that time during the music program when you came to wake me up really early. Or that other time where you ended up sleeping over. Or-"

"Okay, I guess I knew… Sort of." Toshiro said, reaching over to turn the light off. He turned back to her, and found her much closer to him. Lifting an arm up, he welcomed her to him, and wrapped that arm around her.

"This is nice." Karin said after a moment, sighing happily as she had her head resting lightly on his chest. Feeling Toshiro slowly slide his hand up and down her arm felt even more soothing.

"I'm glad you came over." Toshiro replied, enjoying having her near him, and it felt different. Sleeping alone was fine, but having someone else there was better.

With the chill in the air from the air conditioner and Toshiro's hand sliding soothingly down her arm, Karin slowly found herself drifting into sleep. _As her eyes closed, she re-opened them to find herself outside in a street a few down from where Toshiro lived. Her power was flowing through her hand in order to create the katana she had been training with for the past few weeks._ _Crossing the streets, she raised the katana and plunged it deep in a hollow. As it dispersed, she grinned in victory. After letting her power go, she picked up her phone to eye the time. 1:14 a.m._

A loud thud sound hit Karin's ears, and her eyes snapped open to find herself still in Toshiro's bedroom. Not out on the street defeating a hollow. The only sound appeared to be coming from the air conditioner and the fan.

"Are you okay?"

Looking back at Toshiro, who's eyes were focused on her, Karin frowned. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what-"

"Shhh." Karin interrupted, trying to focus to hear the thud sound again.

Propping himself up on his elbows, Toshiro raised an eyebrow at Karin staring up at the ceiling. "I'm sorry, you were the one who asked me if I heard-"

"Shhh." Karin shushed him again, as she reached over for her phone.

"What did you forget to play your phone games before bed?"

"It's 1:11 in the morning." Karin replied slowly as the thud sound hit her ears again. Then she felt a hollow's presence, and a chill run down her spine. This sensation felt awfully similar to some of the visions she had when she was training where she would see herself doing something, then be able to replicate it in real life. _One of my Somi abilities I guess._

Having sensed the hollow as well, Toshiro noticed Karin sit all the way up and look at him. Her eyes told him that she wanted to go after the hollow. "Can we let someone else get it?" He asked, then sighed heavily when she didn't say anything back in response. "Of course not… I'll just text everyone and say I'll get it. That way they won't show up, and it'll keep your super secret powers safe."

Even though she could sense the sarcasm in that last part, Karin laughed and jumped out of bed. "Thanks. It'll be real quick. I promise!"

Chuckling at her confidence, Toshiro got up from the bed after sending a text out to everyone. "Watch it take an hour or two."

"More like three minutes to be exact," Karin replied, pausing at Toshiro's look, she offered him a smile. "Trust me. I have a feeling. We'll take care of this hollow, then we can come back here and go to bed."

Toshiro had just slipped on a shirt when he felt Karin's hand taking his. Turning to face her just as she moved on her toes to kiss him. When their kiss broke and their eyes met, Toshiro couldn't help but smile back at her. "I already agreed to getting out of bed to go let you fight a hollow."

"I know," Karin replied, her smile reflecting his as she shrugged. "I just like you, that's all."

Chuckling at that, Toshiro kissed her this time. "Go put some shorts on so we can go."

 **The next day, the 26th**

"I'm surprised you came to class today Yuzu," Yukio said as they left the art studio. "You haven't been at all since we got home."

"I haven't felt inspired to really do anything lately. It wasn't until after I finished that one sketch that I had been working on at the bridge every night that I finally felt like working again," Yuzu replied with a laugh. "I actually feel good for some reason."

"That hasn't happened in a while," Hinata's voice hit their ears as she and Shin appeared from the art studio. They had stayed behind to help rinse paint brushes, and we're just now meeting up with Yukio and Yuzu. "We're making progress."

"We?" Yuzu questioned, an eyebrow raised.

"We're in this together. That's what friendship is." Hinata said, offering Yuzu a smile.

"So are we going back to my house?" Shin asked, his hands holding the straps of his bag on his back.

Yukio nodded as they started walking down the path. "Yep."

Yuzu started to drown out her friends conversation as they took down the path away from the art studio. Her happy mood numbing as she felt an odd buzzing sensation in her head. In her mind she pictured herself standing at the top of the last set of stairs, the wind passing by along with the students or two. As her eyes traveled down the stairs, they caught immediately onto a black snapback with paint splatters on it. Then the dirty blonde hair, and finally those grey eyes with the slightest bit of green tint to them connected with hers.

Shaking her head, Yuzu found herself unsure as to what just happened in her mind. _That was so weird… Am I making up images of Taro just because I said I was feeling good today? Is this karma-_ Her thoughts were interrupted as they reached the last set of stairs before hitting the sidewalk. Stopping at the top, her eyes moved as if in slow motion down towards the bottom of the stairs. The sight of the black snapback with the paint splatters catching her eyes had her heart heaving in her chest. Without waiting to see the rest of him, Yuzu took off down the stairs past her friends, and down the side walk. She wasn't sure how long she ran, but it wasn't until she was nearly three blocks away at the park that she stopped to breathe. The bad feeling of regret and sadness began eating away at her again, and it had her mind roaring in distress.

She had been there for barely a minute when her phone was buzzing with texts from her friends.

 _Hinata: Where are you? You just took off running._

Feeling her throat catch as if she would start crying any second, Yuzu tried to blink back the tears, and she quickly texted Hinata back. _I just started feeling a bit ill. I think I'm going to just go home. You all have fun at Yukio's._

 _Hinata: Are you sure? I can come meet you and walk with you home._

 _Yuzu: That's alright, my dad is coming to pick me up._

Even as she texted the lie, Yuzu hardly found herself caring. All she could think about is the black snapback with the paint splatters, then his eyes. _But I saw all of that in my head before it actually happened… Is this like what happened to Karin back during our programs? She told Akira that she did something like this… Picturing something happening before it actually happens._ The thought gave Yuzu's already unsettled stomach a nauseating feeling, and she turned to start walking home. Just wanting to be back in the comfort of her own bed, under the covers, and to be even farther from the art studio.

 **An hour later**

Note she had been home for nearly an hour. She came right upstairs and climbed into bed. Feeling comfort in the blankets around herself had soothed her mind back to a comfortable place. Not necessarily happy like she was before, but much more calm.

"Yuzu?"

Karin's voice had Yuzu sitting straight up, as her eyes went across her room to the door. Seeing her sister felt almost foreign. She had spent so much time over the past few weeks trying to be invisible to her family, she hadn't really looked at Karin. Her sister's hair was pulled up, and the blonde layer underneath was clearly visible. She even had a little make up on her face.

At Yuzu's silence, Karin scowled. "Look I know you all of a sudden hate the world and want to be left alone, but can you at least let me know that you can still speak?"

"What did it feel like when you had your first dream?" Yuzu asked almost as soon as Karin stopped talking. She could tell that had taken her sister aback, but she just continued. "I mean you told Akira and I back during our Summer programs, but what did it actually feel like."

Humming lowly as she studied her sister, Karin peeked back into the hall to make sure their dad wasn't upstairs. Focusing back on her sister, she shrugged. "It was kind of an out of body type of experience. I saw what was going to happen right before it happened… It wasn't really a dream so much as a vision, but that's besides the point. The point is my mind felt a little numb during it."

Remaining silent after her sister finished speaking, Yuzu swallowed a lump in her throat. "And has it happened again?"

"Yeah, here and there it does," Karin replied, a thoughtful expression appearing on her face. "To be honest, the visions are okay. So far most have been helping me when it comes to learning some of my abilities. The dreams aren't that great. Sometimes they can be a bit too real-"

"Okay that's enough," Yuzu interrupted, waving her hands to stop Karin from speaking. "I don't want to know anymore."

Frowning back at her sister, Karin shook her head. "Yuzu, I really think you should try to learn more about our powers."

"I don't want to Karin."

"Then why did you ask-"

"I didn't ask for a lecture," Yuzu said, interrupting Karin, as she turned to lay back down in her bed. Pulling the covers over her, she sighed when she didn't hear Karin leave. "You can go now."

"You are so frustrating sometimes!"

After Karin's exclamation, Yuzu heard her footsteps as she left the room. She even heard Karin's door slamming from across the upper floor of the house. _I should have just stayed quiet._

"Hey Yuzu! Your friend is here!" Her dad called from downstairs.

"Alright!" Yuzu shouted back, as she quickly jumped out of bed. Straightening out her comforter the best she could before re-positioning herself on the bed so she was leaning back against the head board. Clenching and unclenching her fists as she tracked the sound of footsteps as they became more clear and much closer.

"Hey girl hey." The voice of her friend Kat was heard, then she appeared in the doorway. Her long black hair was curled to perfection, and she sported her usual black leather jacket and combat boots. This time with shorts instead of pants. Although they had rips and holes like her pants usually did. Kat slipped off her leather jacket and combat boots, then climbed onto Yuzu's bed comfortably. "What's up?"

Smiling at Kat already making herself comfortable, Yuzu's eyes were once again attracted to the dark red lipstick that-now-appeared to be the most important regular of Kat's appearance. Ever since they met last week at that party, they had hung out almost every day since then. "Nothing much. Just trying to pursue happiness in this dark and depressing life I'm living."

That had Kat laughing as she had leaned back on Yuzu's bed. "When you texted about seeing Taro I expected you to be in a much worse state. But it seems you're just doing mental damage instead of physical."

"You just missed me snapping at my sister, so add verbal damage to that," Yuzu replied with a sigh and shake of her head. "It seems like all we do is argue lately when we're not busy not talking to each other. It didn't used to be like this. We used to hardly ever argue- I think it is because of everything that happened with Taro."

"Well I think that's fine. This is your time of emotional healing after what happened, and you can't just do that in one day. Sure it may be hard because your family doesn't know what happened, but it's not like this is going to last forever. You'll feel better."

"Eventually maybe..." Yuzu trailed off, as she sighed heavily again. Finding herself tired of talking about Taro and things related to Taro. "Can we talk about something else?"

Kat hummed as she nodded and let her eyes move around the room. "This is so different. Usually whenever I'm over here it's dark out."

Hesitating at the thought, Yuzu gained a big grin on her face. "You realize how that sounds right?"

"Maybe I meant it to sound that way." Kat shot back, grinning as her eyes met Yuzu's, then they both broke into laughter.

"Are you hungry?" Yuzu asked after they stopped laughing.

Sitting up, Kat shrugged and yawned. "I could go for food or a nap."

"Food first, because I'm starving," Yuzu replied, hopping off the bed with Kat. "And you're in luck, because I'm a great cook."

"Is this what they call being wined and dined?" Kat asked as they left Yuzu's room.

"Well, unfortunately I think my dad would notice if a bottle of wine goes missing, and we're both drunk off our asses," Yuzu replied, pausing at her door to look back at Kat. "But I can make a great milkshake instead."

"Ooo, even better!"

 **A few days later, 29th of July**

"Do we have everything on the list?"

Kimi's question had Karin shuffling around in her pockets to find the list of groceries they needed in order to cook dinner that night. Retrieving the folded up paper finally, Karin eyed the list and nodded once. "Yeah the rice was the last thing."

"Okay, let's go find your dad. I'm sure he probably thinks we've gone and died or something with how long we've been gone."

"How was I supposed to know it would take us nearly ten minutes to find the rice?" Karin shot back, laughing along with Kimi. "I think we went down all the aisles twice."

"Yeah and we still had to ask someone where it was. Clearly we go grocery shopping a lot," Kimi replied, laughing at her own sarcasm. When her laughter settled, her eyes went to Karin as they strolled through the store in search of Karin's dad. "Changing the subject, have you been back over to Toshiro's apartment?"

"Not in the past few days," Karin said with a sigh as she crossed her arms. "That night I spent over was the last time I saw him actually. He had to go somewhere for work."

"Where did you say he worked again?"

"Uh," Karin started, racking her brain for what she had told Kimi the last time she asked. _Obviously saying that he went to the Soul Society is out. Hmmm. What did I say- Oh yeah!_ "He works some government job. He can't really say specifics, but he travels every once in a while."

That had Kimi smirking as she mirrored Karin in crossing her arms. "Look at you with your secret agent boyfriend."

"I didn't say he was a secret agent- Hey dad," Karin changed the subject when they turned the corner to run right into her dad. He had been shopping for their normal groceries while Karin and Kimi had been grabbing stuff for dinner that night. "So about what we were talking about on the way here, can I get a cat?"

"We're back to this again?" Isshin countered, a smirk on his face. "I've already told you that it is a big commitment."

"I know that," Karin said, eying Kimi who was nodding in approval at her smooth change of subject. "But I can do it."

Isshin was quiet for a long moment, but finally hummed. "We'll see."

That had Karin's eyes widening as she walked alongside her dad as he started moving again. "That's not a no."

 **Later that night**

Turning the light off, Karin left the bathroom and turned the flashlight on her phone. It was past midnight and everyone was in bed so there was no lights on in the house. Once in her room, Karin ran her fingers through her wet hair. Raising her arms up to do that produced an ache through her whole body. Training was killer that day. She had worked hard early that morning because she had planned to spend the afternoon and evening with Kimi and her family. She didn't start feeling the burning in her muscles until dinner started, and she had tried her best not to show her pain to the others.

So she spent the last hour in a hot shower, dressed in her most comfortable big t-shirt for bed, and was all ready to sleep in the next day. With that in mind, the second she was in bed, she stretched out and turned the light off. _I've had so much going on lately. Work and training. Then when school starts- oh and music. I'll start having my private lessons again soon. And there is also soccer… That's a lot of stuff._

With that in mind, Karin closed her eyes and willed sleep to come upon her. Feeling a chill of air from the A.C kicking on, Karin pulled her blankets closer to her, and snuggled her head into her pillow. She loved sleeping while it was cold. Nothing was better than being able to wrap up in her blankets and go to sleep. The combination of the cool air, the cozy blankets and the lulling sound of the ceiling fan sent Karin's mind off on a sleep journey. That was until a thud sound hit her ears, followed quickly with the pressure of a hand on her arm. Jumping from relaxed to on edge, Karin was quick to sit up and raise her hand to defend herself, but the person grabbed her wrist.

"Relax," the soft whisper of her boyfriend's voice was heard. "It's just me."

"Toshiro," Karin hissed, pulling her wrist out of his hand, as she scowled. "You scared me."

Chuckling back at her annoyance, Toshiro sat down on her bed. "Sorry. I just got back from the Soul Society and I missed you."

After Toshiro said that, he had leaned over and kissed her. Feeling her irritation fade away, Karin smiled when their kiss broke. "Are you sure you didn't enjoy the nice and relaxing days without me bothering you?"

"Well I did at first- Hey, I was just joking!"

"Shhh," Karin shushed him, her smile turning to a smirk at the sight of him rubbing his shoulder where she had given him a light smack. "I know my room is pretty far away from my sister's and my dad's, but all it takes is for one of them to walk by on the way downstairs."

Toshiro shook his head at her words. "If anything, you're being louder than me," he said, smirking at her laughter. "See?" When that made her laugh more, Toshiro stood up from her bed as he looked to the clock that showed it was past midnight. "I should go. I just wanted to see you when I got back."

His words stopped Karin's laughter, as she reached over to grab his hand. "Will you stay over?"

"And risk your dad walking in your room and seeing us in the morning?"

"Don't worry, he's really good about personal space. He won't just barge into my room."

"And Yuzu-"

"Again, don't worry. She's being anti-social as hell lately, so I think we're good there," Karin interrupted with a shake of her head. At Toshiro's silence, she moved up on her knees closer to the edge of the bed where he was standing. Loosely wrapping her arms around his neck, she smiled. "Please?"

Humming lowly, Toshiro finally broke his silence with a sigh. "Alright."

"Yay- oh shit that was loud." Karin brought a hand to her mouth to quiet herself. Her smile wide as that had made Toshiro laugh. Sitting back, she watched Toshiro as he took off his shoes, then his shirt. She hadn't realized she had been staring until she noticed he had stopped moving with his eyes on her and a smirk growing across his face. "What? Am I not allowed to check out my boyfriend?"

Toshiro shook his head and his smirk turned to a grin. "I guess you are."

"You guess?" Karin countered with a raised eyebrow, as she tried to control her laughter. Moving over on the bed so he could get on beside her, she barely waited a few seconds after he had settled to make herself comfortable. Resting her head comfortably on his chest, she sighed happily at him sliding his arm around her. "Thank you."

"For what?"

Smiling back at his question, Karin moved her hand off his chest to push her hair out of her eyes. "For staying."

"You don't have to thank me," Toshiro replied, getting her to lift her head up to look at him. Reaching over, he finished her task of getting her hair out of her face by tucking her bangs back behind her ear. "I like to spend time with you. No matter if it's short moments before you go to work and when you're on break during your training, or moments like this where we get to spend the night together. I like to be with you."

Feeling a fluttering feeling inside of her, Karin felt a sense of happiness pour through her whole body. Propping herself up on her elbow as he was elevated a bit higher with his head on the pillow, she leaned closer and kissed him. When their kiss broke, she smiled as he caressed her cheek. "I like to be with you too."

 **A half hour later**

"I definitely think Karin is seeing someone."

"Why do you think that? Didn't you say your sister just broke up with her boyfriend?" Hinata countered her friend's question quickly. They were seated out on the patio outside a house that was full of people. The party they were at was actually closer towards the city, but the cops usually didn't patrol the area and the neighbors weren't ones to complain apparently.

"Well "just" is a bit of a stretch, that was about a month ago," Yuzu replied, then she crossed her arms. "It was when we were leaving the house tonight. You were already downstairs. I was sneaking down the hall, and-as you know-I have to pass Karin's room on the way downstairs. I heard her talking to someone in her room."

That didn't seem to convince Hinata as she held a look of question in her eyes. "Maybe she was talking to herself."

"And the voice was talking back to her?" Yuzu countered with a shake of her head. "Someone was definitely in there with her. It sounded like a guy's voice. They were talking too softly for me to see if I could tell who it was."

"Could it be her ex-boyfriend?" Hinata offered, no longer disagreeing with Yuzu, and on-board with the whole thing now.

"I doubt it. It seemed to me that Karin and Ryuu did not have a smooth break up. My sister wouldn't just go back with the guy. She'd probably put him through hell for months before even considering the possibility of getting back together."

It was quiet between Yuzu and Hinata. The sound of conversation and music filled the air from inside the house. Finally Hinata turned back to Yuzu. "Has Karin ever done _it_?"

" _It_ it?" Yuzu countered, and at Hinata's nod, she shook her head back. "She told me she hasn't, but I don't know. Things change."

"Hey," Yukio's voice broke into their conversation before Hinata could reply. He stopped beside Hinata and Yuzu, his eyes on Hinata. "Want to play a game of beer pong with me against Shin?"

"You mean Shin and his new love interest?" Hinata countered, already standing up from her seat. "Of course, but I'm playing with her. That way you and Shin can lose together."

"Hey Yuzu."

The sound of Kat's voice was heard, before the girl showed up near them. The sight of Kat had Hinata looking to Yuzu. "I'm going inside. Make sure we leave together since I'm sleeping over at your house."

"I won't leave without you," Yuzu replied, waving off her friends, then her focus went to Kat who took Hinata's abandoned chair. "Hey."

"Hey girl hey." Kat greeted back, a grin on her face.

"You're late," Yuzu said, a smile on her face as she propped her head up with her hand. "I thought you were going to be the first to arrive?"

"Sorry," Kat said, then she pointed to her mouth. "I couldn't find my lipstick, and we know that I can't leave the house without this stuff."

Yuzu's eyes were already focused on the dark red painted across Kat's lips, and she laughed at Kat's words. "Well we couldn't have you go out practically naked could we?"

"I don't know," Kat hummed lowly at the thought. "I wouldn't be opposed to public nudity."

"We're talking about your lipstick," Yuzu replied, then she grinned. "Although, now that I think about it, I definitely see you enjoying the freedom of a nude beach somewhere tropical."

That brought a grin to Kat's face, as she pointed to Yuzu. "Are you saying you're thinking about me naked?"

"That's _exactly_ what I'm saying." Yuzu shot back with a bit of sarcasm. She laughed along with Kat, but on the inside she found herself exploring the thought. _Kat naked on a beach, with her dark red lipstick, and the wind messing up her hair-_ Choking a little on her drink, Yuzu started coughing. Her thoughts felt so real, and it almost seemed just like the feeling she had the day she she saw Taro at the art studio.

"Hey, you're not supposed to breathe in your drink." Kat said reaching over to pat Yuzu on the back.

Setting her drink back on the table, Yuzu looked to Kat, who had got really close. Feeling her cheeks grow warm, she felt a strange sense of boldness. One she had felt a lot of back during her art program. Without really thinking, Yuzu leaned over and pressed her lips against the dark red ones that had been catching her eye since the day they met.

Kat didn't hesitate in kissing Yuzu back, and they held their kiss for a minute. When they did finally break apart, her eyes met Yuzu's, and they remained silently staring at one another.

Yuzu was feeling a high, the same kind of high she felt when she had kissed Taro like that, and it only seemed to increase her boldness as she stared at Kat. "I wanted to kiss you."

"Okay," Kat started, then a grin stretched on her face. "It's the red lipstick isn't it?"

Laughing at her joke, Yuzu shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know what it is exactly… But the red lipstick doesn't hurt."

"Want to go inside and grab another drink?" Kat asked, standing up and reaching a hand out to Yuzu.

Staring at Kat's hand, Yuzu still felt buzzed after the kiss they just had. _Maybe it's the alcohol I've had… Or maybe it isn't._ Accepting Kat's hand, Yuzu stood up. "Sure."

 **A few hours later**

"Okay, you said it was just a kiss," Hinata said from where she was laying on Yuzu's bed. Going back and forth from Twitter to Instagram to see if anything happened at the party that they didn't already know about. Yuzu was across the hall in the bathroom, but she wasn't worried about Yuzu's dad hearing her. His room was a bit farther down towards the end of the hall and his door was closed. "But really? I've seen Kat, you've obviously seen her. If I was into girls, she would certainly be on the top of my list."

"Do you know what the date is?" Yuzu countered from the bathroom.

"Well since it is past midnight, it's July 30th," Hinata replied, moving onto Snapchat when Instagram and Twitter got old. "Don't change the subject. You kissing Kat still needs to be discussed. Like did you kiss her because you're attracted to her or is this some sort of rebound from Taro. Or- Yuzu?"

Having walked back into her bedroom, Yuzu slowly and quietly closed her bedroom door behind herself. But she remained standing at the door, as she closed her eyes.

"Yuzu?" Hinata repeated, an eyebrow raised at how quiet she was. She knew something was off. "Look, I'm sorry I'm being so pushy. It's really none of my business, and I really shouldn't have brought up Taro-"

"It's not that." Yuzu interrupted before she took in a deep breath. She opened her eyes, and looked right at Hinata. "I'm late."

* * *

 **A/N: … All I'm going to say is that I enjoyed writing the chapter. The last scene… well I'll leave it for you all to go crazy over.**

 **This is the last chapter for a little while. There will be another chapter of Finding What's Lost next week, and I will be starting uploads on The Trials of Destiny soon. Stay tuned on my blog for updates on when the next batch of chapters will be uploaded. It will probably either be towards the end of this year or the beginning of next year just because I have my other stories to work on as well.**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**

 **Also be sure to check out my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot .com (no spaces)**


	7. Yuzu's Struggle

_Review:_

 _Having walked back into her bedroom, Yuzu slowly and quietly closed her bedroom door behind herself. But she remained standing at the door, as she closed her eyes._

" _Yuzu?" Hinata repeated, an eyebrow raised at how quiet she was. She knew something was off. "Look, I'm sorry I'm being so pushy. It's really none of my business, and I really shouldn't have brought up Taro-"_

" _It's not that." Yuzu interrupted before she took in a deep breath. She opened her eyes, and looked right at Hinata. "I'm late."_

* * *

 **A few days later, August 2nd**

"Would you hold on a minute?" Yuzu called out as she finished going down the stairs and to the front door at the sound of repeated persistant knocking. She had barely opened the door before chestnut brown haired blur sped past her inside.

"I have thirty minutes until I have to be back home to help my mom unload groceries and cook dinner. So did you find out?"

"Shhh," Yuzu quickly hushed, as she closed the front door. "My sister is upstairs Hinata. Could you be any louder?"

"You still haven't told anyone?" Hinata countered, as she was led by Yuzu out to the back patio.

"I haven't quite got around to it."

Scowling at that, Hinata dropped ber bag on the glass table on the patio, and sat down. "The problem isn't going to go away just because you ignore it."

"I know that. I just lost my nerve..." Yuzu trailed off, then she sighed. "Anytime I think about telling anyone or doing anything about it, I just make myself panic."

The back door sliding open kept Hinata from speaking, and Karin poked her head outside. "Dad just got home. He's going to take me to go take my permit test. Do you want to go?"

"I'll go some other time." Yuzu replied, leaning back against her chair, and glancing over in Karin's direction.

"Seriously?" Karin questioned, an eyebrow raised. "You don't want to start learning how to drive. It's one step towards freedom."

"I will go eventually, just not right now. Can't you see I'm a little busy?" Yuzu countered, a little snap to her tone.

Rolling her eyes at Yuzu's dramatic tone change, she turned to go back inside. "Yeah, you're soooo busy right now."

Hinata waited until the sound of the front door closing was heard, then she put her focus back on Yuzu. "You don't really know for sure if you are or not."

"Okay if I go take one of those tests, and find out that I am; I'm as good as dead."

"Didn't your brother just get his girlfriend pregnant last year?"

"Yeah, but it's not the same thing. He and Orihime were seventeen going on eighteen, and in their senior year of high school. Meanwhile, I am fifteen, and my freshman year starts at the end of the month. It's very different."

Hinata was quiet for a long moment, then she reached over to rest her hand on Yuzu's. "Well I'm here for you no matter what happens, but I really think you should tell your dad."

"He will kill me."

"Maybe not, I just don't think it's really helping you to keep this a secret any longer."

Yuzu just remained quiet after Hinata stopped speaking. Resting her head down on the table, she sighed heavily. She remained like that for another few minutes, then she finally got her phone out.

"Who are you texting?" Hinata asked, an eyebrow raised at the nervous look in Yuzu's eye.

"Someone I can trust." Was all Yuzu said, as her fingers tapped rapidly on her phone.

 **A couple hours later**

"This is awesome!" Karin exclaimed as she and her dad got out of the car to go to the front door. Her eyes glued to the paper copy of her learns permit like they have been the entire way home. "When can we go start?"

"I have to go to work," Isshin replied, as he opened the door. "We can start this weekend."

"Oh come on dad, I don't think I can wait-" Karin broke off when they went in the house, and her eyes landed on Orihime and Toshiro sitting on the couch.

"You can't wait four days?" Isshin asked, not noticing Karin's pause. "Between work and how often you go to hang out with Kimi, that surprises me."

"Ooo Mina," Karin said, completely focusing her attention on her niece who was asleep in her carrier.

Orihime smiled at Karin's distraction. "Let's try not to wake her up. She has been fussy all day, and hasn't slept until now."

"Got it." Karin replied, standing up her eyes glanced over to Toshiro who had been looking at her. Trying to hide the smile coming to her face, she turned to go to the kitchen. Once in there, she grabbed some water, and listened to the voices in the living room. She could hear her dad asking what Orihime and Toshiro were here for.

Orihime had replied back that she was going to give Yuzu a ride to the art studio, and Toshiro was just keeping her company as Ichigo is still on assignment and her friends were all off either working, training, or had other things going on.

Karin walked back into the living room, and casually leaned against the couch. Her eyes focusing down on the glass of water in her hands, as she pretended not to have interest in the conversation.

Toshiro was smirking at Orihime. "Did you only want to hang out with me because your other friends are busy?"

"Of course not..." Orihime trailed, a smile growing at Toshiro's raised eyebrow. "I'm serious. You've been really busy lately, and I wanted to hang out with you."

Chuckling, Toshiro stood up from the couch. "I have to get going, I have to go meet with Urahara."

"You're going to walk all the way there?" Orihime asked, an eyebrow raised. "You forgot we drove here together."

"I could always use the exercise." Toshiro replied as he moved to the door.

While her dad and Orihime said goodbye, Karin mumbled a goodbye as well.

"I have to get to work," Isshin said, as he got up from the couch. "It was nice to sit down for a few minutes."

"Alright well have a great day at work," Orihime replied with a smile. "Once Yuzu gets down here, I'll be taking her to the art studio, and I told her I would give her a ride home as well."

"I'll see you tonight dad." Karin added with a wave in her dad's direction. Setting the glass of water down on the table, she started up the stairs. Seeing Yuzu in the hall, she stopped. "Hey-"

"Hi!" Was Yuzu's hurried sounding reply, as she sped past Karin to go downstairs.

"Okay then..." Karin shook her head at her sister's hurry, then continued to her room. Looking down at her phone as she walked in, and it wasn't until she closed her door that she looked up. Jumping slightly as her eyes met turquoise ones, she brought her hand up to her heart. "Jesus! You scared me."

Smirking at her words, Toshiro reached over and pulled her closer. "Sorry."

"You are not." Karin replied before they kissed.

After a moment Toshiro pulled back. "I really do have to go soon. I told Renji I would train with him."

"Okay." Was all Karin said, before she kissed him.

This time when they broke apart, Toshiro's smile was back on his face. "I guess I can stay another five minutes."

 **Yuzu's POV**

They had been driving for nearly five minutes carrying a light conversation that Orihime was leading. When they fell into silence finally, Yuzu felt like hear brain was spinning, and it was getting faster and faster with each silent second that went by. "Can you pull over for a minute?"

"What?" Orihime asked, turning the music down a little, an eyebrow raised at Yuzu.

"Can you pull over?"

Even though Orihime was confused, she pulled over. Putting the car in park, she turned more to face Yuzu. "What's going on?"

Resting her elbow on the car door, Yuzu rested her head on her hand, and closed her eyes. "Remember what I told you after I came back from my art program?"

"Yes..." Orihime trailed off, an eyebrow raised in Yuzu's direction. "Why- Oh..."

Opening her eyes, Yuzu looked over to Orihime. "I'm late."

"Oh Yuzu. Orihime said, reaching over to hold her hand.

"I know," Yuzu took a deep breath, and let her head rest back against the headrest. Tears edging at her eyes. "What if I'm pregnant? I'm only fifteen."

Orihime was silent for a long moment. "Well, I think you should go to the OBGYN, and tell your dad-"

"Can't I just get one of those at-home test, and not tell my dad anything?"

"You can, but I think you should still see a doctor... and tell your dad," Orihime advised, hearing Mina fussing from her carseat, she reached around and put Mina's pacifier back in. "I also think that since you're now sexually active, you should be seeing an OBGYN annually."

Yuzu seemed mortified at that suggestion, as her eyes met Orihime's. "I'm not even sexually active if it was only the one time."

"Still."

At Orihime's one-word response, Yuzu finally sighed and nodded. "Fine. But will you help me make the appointment with an OBGYN doctor? I've never had to do that before."

Orihime nodded, and took the car out of park so they could start driving again. "And your dad?"

"Absolutely not," was Yuzu's immediate reply, but she softened a little. "At least not yet."

It was quiet for a long moment, then Orihime shook her head. "Do you even have to go to the art studio today?"

"No, that was just an excuse to talk to you without everyone else around," Yuzu replied, then she motioned back to Mina. "Mina excluded of course, because she has no idea what we're talking about and can't even talk herself."

"Okay, well let's go out to eat, and then we can go back to my house for an hour or two. I'm sure your sister would think it's weird if you are going out to the art studio, then come back fifteen minutes later." Orihime suggested, as she pulled into the parking lot next to a strip mall of restaurants and fast food places that was across the park. "Funnel cakes?"

"Alright." Yuzu agreed, unbuckling her seatbelt once they parked. She hopped out of the car and took a long deep breath. _It feels a little better now that Orihime knows. It's not just on me now._

 **Later that evening, Karin's POV**

Lying back on her bed, Karin took some deep breaths. She was originally supposed to be training tonight, but Akira got put on an assignment last minute. So instead Karin was staying home. Her idea was to try and get some extra rest, but she found herself leading more towards meditation. Something she really didn't like, but after dating Toshiro for a month she found herself doing it more often. _It's wild that it's almost been an entire month... We've been keeping it from my family for so long, it's kind of_ _shocking no one knows yet._

The sound of her phone buzzing had her opening her eyes. Unlocking the screen, she smiled when she saw it was a text from Toshiro.

 _Toshiro: I know you're probably busy, but I just wanted to say hey. I just got out of a meeting with Urahara. I'm about to starve to death. That meeting took way too long._

 _Karin:_ _I was just thinking about you._

 _Toshiro:_ _Two things. One you should probably focus on your training when your training. And two, why are you texting me back in the middle of training?_

That brought a smile to Karin's face, as she quickly typed back. _I'm actually not training tonight after all. Akira had to go on a last minute assignment. So I'm spending my new freetime laying on my bed and suffering through meditation._

After Karin sent that last text message, instead of a text in response, her phone started ringing. Seeing Toshiro's name, she picked up quickly. "Yes?"

 _"Since you're not doing anything and I'm not doing anything, want to go grab something to eat? I'm not that far from your house."_

"That would be great actually," Karin replied, sitting up on her bed. "My dad and sister are home, but I'll just tell him that I'm going to meet Kimi. That was my original excuse to go train, before Akira ended up backing out."

 _"Sounds good. Be there in five minutes."_

 **Thirty minutes later**

"So what were you thinking about?" Toshiro asked after he finished chewing. After he picked Karin up, they went to Rocky's, got their food to-go, and were now parked a mile down from the big bridge. Watching the sun go down, and the boats going by in the water.

"What?" Karin asked, an eyebrow raised in confusion as she sipped her milkshake.

"When I texted you, you texted back saying you were thinking about me," Toshiro said, his eyes meeting hers. "I was just curious as to why."

That brought a smile to Karin's face, as she picked up her burger after eating a few fries. "Honestly, I was just thinking about meditation. Which led me to thinking of you, then how it's been almost a month that we've been together. It doesn't feel like that long."

Toshiro nodded, as he thought about it. "I mean I guess we've just had a busy month. I went off on assignment a few times, and you had work and training... I can't believe it's been a month."

It was quiet for a moment, then Karin moved her eyes back to Toshiro. "I was also thinking about how it's been an entire month and no one in my family knows."

"Orihime knows."

"True, but still..." Karin trailed off as she finished off her burger and went back to her fries.

At Karin's silence, Toshiro turned more to face her. "Are re-thinking not telling them?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Karin looked up at the roof of the car. "I mean I still don't see them reacting well. My dad and Ichigo, that is. Yuzu doesn't count. I could walk on the freaking moon and Yuzu wouldn't give a damn with her attitude lately."

"Well if you change your mind and do want to tell them, I will go with you and we can tell them together."

That brought a smile to Karin's face, as she looked at him. "That's sweet and all, but I think that might just be you putting yourself in the line of fire. I like your face in one piece."

"I also prefer it that way," Toshiro replied, then they both laughed. When their laughter slowed, he reached over to put his hand on top of hers. "But, I'm serious though. If you do want to talk to them, I will go with you if you want me to."

"I know you will, and I appreciate it," Karin leaned over to kiss him once, and when she settled back in her seat she sighed. "I don't know if I want to tell them yet... But we'll see."

 **A couple days later, August 4th**

Turning the car off, Orihime offered a small smile in Yuzu's direction. "You ready?"

"No... But yeah, I guess." Yuzu replied, although she didn't move to take off her seatbelt or open the door.

"Yuzu," Orihime said, getting the younger girl to look at her. "No matter what happens, everything will be okay. There are a lot of options you can consider, and nothing is set in stone."

Taking in a deep breath, Yuzu nodded and moved to get out of the car. "I guess." As soon as she stepped out of the car, her phone started to buzz. Pulling it out of her pocket, her eyes widened when she saw the name on the screen.

"Yuzu?" Orihime asked, having got Mina out of the car, and had her carrier in her hands.

"Uh, I'll catch up with you," Yuzu said, holding her phone up. "I'm getting a phone call."

"Okay, remember it's the 6th floor. The OBGYN office is off the wing to the right when you get off the elevator."

"Got it," Yuzu said, waiting for Orihime to start walking away, before her eyes went down to the phone again. _Taro._ Finally answering it, she put the phone slowly up to her ear, and took a breath. "Hello."

 _"Yuzu? Oh- Uh hi."_

Yuzu could tell by the sound of his voice that he sounded surprised, and she just crossed her free arm across her chest, and tucked her hand under the other arm. "Hi."

 _"I'm sorry, I guess I'm just a little surprised that you picked up... Are you okay? I've been worried about you?"_

"I'm fine," Yuzu started, feeling tears come to her eyes. She paced back alongside the car. "I've missed you."

 _"I've missed you too... Why haven't you answered any of my calls or texts? There has to be hundreds by now."_

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Yuzu tried her best to control her voice. "I just haven't been in a good place this past month."

 _"Maybe we should talk... If you think that would help."_

"I'm not- I can't- I'm not ready yet," Yuzu stumbled through that sentence, as tears became a lot harder to hold back. "I-I have to go. I'm sorry." Quickly getting off the phone, tears finally leaking out of her eyes. Leaning back against Orihime's car, Yuzu brought a hand up to her face, and let herself cry.

After a few minutes, she tried her best to get herself together, and wipe the tears from her face. Taking in some deep breaths, she turned and started towards the hospital. _I can do this._

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter was interesting to write. Both Karin and Yuzu are struggling with very different issues. Karin with keeping her relationship a secret, and Yuzu's struggle with the results of her actions over the art program. What was your favorite scene?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

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	8. Letting It All Out In The Open

_Review:_

 _"I'm not- I can't- I'm not ready yet," Yuzu stumbled through that sentence, as tears became a lot harder to hold back. "I-I have to go. I'm sorry." Quickly getting off the phone, tears finally leaking out of her eyes. Leaning back agianst Orihime's car, Yuzu brought a hand up to her face, and let herself cry._

 _After a few minutes, she tried her best to get herself together, and wipe the tears from her face. Taking in some deep breaths, she turned and started towards the hospital. I can do this._

* * *

 **A few days later, August 8th**

Lifting her comforter up, Yuzu got back into bed, and grabbed her phone. It was just past ten in the morning, and she was waiting for everyone to leave downstairs like she usually did. It was taking longer than usual as she heard Orihime and Ichigo arrive with Mina and Bingo over half an hour ago.

"Yuzu!"

The sound of her dad's voice had her raise an eyebrow, and she sat up. _Why is he calling me? I feel like at this point he's used to the fact that I don't get out of bed until after eleven._ Getting up, she grabbed her robe, and put it on over her pajamas. She began to run her fingers through her hair, as she left her room to go downstairs. Once down there, her eyes went to the living room to see Ichigo and Orihime on the couch, and Karin was holding Mina. "Where's dad?"

"Kitchen." Ichigo replied, although his eyes remained down on his phone.

Yuzu turned to face the kitchen, but stopped from moving when her dad walked out of the kitchen. He was holding a piece of paper and a torn envelope. "What's up dad?"

"I have a bill from the hospital for you from a few days ago."

Yuzu's half-smile dropped from her face, and she tensed up. Not saying a word, as her eyes dropped down to the floor.

"It's from the OBGYN…" Isshin trailed off, as he raised an eyebrow. "You want to tell me what you were doing getting an appointment there? Without asking me or letting me know."

There was a long moment of silence, then Yuzu finally looked up at her dad. "Dad..."

Silence filled the air again, but it wasn't long before Karin spoke up. "Oh my god."

Ignoring Karin, Yuzu felt like a dam was finally broken. "I'm sorry dad, I really am. I didn't mean for it to happen, then I was late for my period. I was scared that I was pregnant or something."

"Did you go by yourself?" Isshin asked her.

Yuzu remained quiet, as her eyes slid over to Orihime.

Ichigo, followed Yuzu's eyes to Orihime, and he raised an eyebrow. "You knew about this?"

"Yes I did," Orihime replied, her eyes going from Ichigo to Isshin. "Yuzu told me she wanted to be the one to talk to you when she was ready."

Isshin's eyes went back to Yuzu at her continued silence. "Yuzu?"

When Yuzu still didn't say anything, Orihime cleared her throat to get Yuzu's attention. "Yuzu I think this would be better coming from you rather than me."

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Yuzu sighed. "I met the guy a few weeks before the trip, and we just started hanging out once we got there. Then things just happened at the end of the program," she paused, and took a deep breath. "It's not like it's just on him, because I wanted to do it to in the moment. But the next day I realized that it was a big mistake. I've always told myself that I wanted to wait until I was married, but then because I made a really stupid and rash decision I completely ruined that…"

After Yuzu stopped talking as it looked as if she was about to cry, Karin passed Mina over to Orihime, and started towards the back door. "Well I'm going to go outside, because this doesn't seem like something I should be here for. Let me know when we are going out to pick up lunch. I have to go to work after we eat, so we need to get going soon."

Karin left to go outside, and Isshin just kept his eyes on Yuzu. For a long moment, then he sighed and sat down at the kitchen table. "Oh lord… Yuzu you can go upstairs."

It wasn't until after Yuzu went upstairs that Ichigo looked to Orihime. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Ichigo don't say it like that," Isshin started at the slight irritated tone in his son's voice. "Yuzu went to her because of her being an older female who clearly has experience when it comes to going to the OBGYN, and what needed to be taken care of. And Orihime expected Yuzu to say something, as that's what Yuzu had told her she would do. So Orihime isn't to blame here."

"In Yuzu's defense. She's been really stressed out about this, and she has wanted to tell you. She just kept scaring herself out of doing it." Orihime tried to explain, a shrug of her shoulders.

Isshin was quiet for a long moment. "Is everything okay?"

"Yuzu's not pregnant, nor does she appear to have contracted STD's. I also advised her that if she was going to… Do what she did again, she needed to go back to the OBGYN and get on birth control. Although, I don't think she's planning to do… that again anytime soon," Orihime said, adjusting Mina who started to get a little fussy. "I can take her back in a few months for another check… If that's okay."

"It is," Isshin said, then he sighed and rubbed his face. "I didn't think I'd ever have this problem, and if it did happen, I didn't think it'd be Yuzu."

Ichigo stood up from the couch. "I want to find this guy-"

"Ichigo," Orihime interrupted him, shaking her head at him. "Stop."

"He took advantage of her-"

"No," Orihime interrupted again, this time with a note of irritation in her voice. "He didn't. It was completely consensual. Yuzu just said that a few minutes ago. It is so backwards that people automatically jump to the fact that it's all on the man when stuff like this happens. They both knew what they were doing when it happened, and that doesn't change just because Yuzu woke up the next day and regretted it. It is not fair to put all the blame on the guy, and making Yuzu look like a victim."

Ichigo sighed heavily, and sat back down. Putting his head in his hands. "Okay."

It was silent for a moment, then Isshin finally stood up from the table. "We should probably get going. Thank you Orihime for being there for Yuzu."

Orihime nodded once, and moved to go put Mina in her carrier. She waited until Isshin walked out on the back porch to tell Karin they were leaving, before she looked to Ichigo. "I know you're just protective about your sisters, but Ichigo, it really wasn't like that. Yuzu would have said something if it was."

Ichigo nodded, as he watched Orihime put Mina in her carrier. "I know, but she's my little sister. I don't want to think about her… doing that."

That brought a smile to Orihime's face, as she reached over and took his hand. "I know."

 **An hour and a half later, Urahara's**

Crossing her arms over her legs, Karin let her eyes go up to the ceiling. She was sitting off in the corner of the main room at Urahara's, and trying to avoid the fact that Toshiro was also here. Her dad, brother and Orihime had to meet with Urahara about something along with the other shinigami. So after grabbing lunch, they came over here, and she was trying to drown them all out. She still had to go to work, but that wasn't for another half hour. The meeting was supposed to wrap up soon, and she wasn't about to go to work any earlier than she had to.

"Shigekuni has requested to go over some missing files for the Summer, and we're hoping you all might be able to help if it's relating to assignments you were on," Urahara said, eyeing some of the paperwork. "Starting off, Toshiro?"

"Yes." Toshiro said, looking away from Karin's direction, and back to Urahara.

"You were gone for about two weeks in June."

The second Karin heard Urahara say that, her head straightened up from where she was leaning it back against the wall. _Oh no._

"Well you went to go cover a city where the usual shinigami assigned to that city got re-assigned," Urahara started, reading what was on the paper. "There had been a few hollows show up in a period of a few days, which is why you were asked to go check it out. A new shinigami got assigned to the town, but yet you didn't return back to your post here in Karakura Town for another two weeks."

Toshiro was quiet for a long moment, his eyes drifting slowly back to Karin, then down at the table. "It was personal."

"Then there should be some mention of you letting the Soul Society know that you were taking personal leave," Urahara said, flipping through the paperwork in front of him. "That way someone could take over your responsibilities, like filling out this paperwork, while you were gone."

Toshiro went quiet again, but this time Rangiku spoke before he could. "I thought it was odd you were gone for two weeks without saying anything to us."

"Yeah, what was so personal that you couldn't just tell us where you were going?" Renji added.

Again Toshiro said nothing. Karin, meanwhile, was feeling a tension growing from where she was sitting. Her mind racing around in circles. That's when she noticed Orihime had looked back at her. _Oh god..._

Urahara cleared his throat when nothing more was said. "Toshiro-"

"Okay," Karin interrupted, as she quickly stood up. Moving over to the circle table, she squatted down so she was on everyone elses level, and she just clasped her hands together. "I need everyone to just like chill out for a second. Dad you especially. After the whole Yuzu situation this morning, I just feel like your blood pressure is through the roof."

"What?" Isshin countered, an eyebrow raised in confusion.

Ichigo sighed heavily at Karin butting in. "Karin, this really isn't any of your business-"

Karin's laughter interrupted Ichigo. "Actually it kinda is," she said, then her eyes went to Urahara. "I know that there is no official report, but if he was working on stuff related to spiritual crap, then he was still technically working there. He just never turned in the full report."

"I guess that would be true, but he just said it was personal." Urahara said, his eyes going from Toshiro back to Karin.

"Well that's because he didn't want to tell you-or anyone else-that he was in New Luna City... with me for those two weeks."

After Karin said that, there was silence. Even Toshiro, who was taken aback at her actually saying that outloud.

Karin nodded once after no one said anything. "And he actually wasn't the one to take down the first two hollows, I took those down. But he did have to take down the third one because my inexperienced self couldn't quite take care of it... But just so you know, I'm much better now."

"Wait," Rukia spoke up, her eyes on Karin. "You have powers?"

"Yeah, but not like you guys. I'm actually a Somi, like Akira and Rin," Karin replied, waving it off. "Anyway, Toshiro was with me those two weeks, because apparently-like everyone else in my family-I attract danger. He was kind of helping me train my powers so I could at least defend myself better..."

Urahara shook his head. "It took over two weeks to get you to a point where you could defend yourself? You just said you took down two of those hollows."

"Yeah, I did say that..." Karin sighed heavily. "Well it really only took a few days to get me to a point of being able to defend myself better, but he stayed the rest of the two weeks for extra practice."

Finally Urahara looked to Toshiro. "Well, it wasn't really my place to say what I was doing there until Karin spoke up about her having powers."

Rangiku chuckled here, as she crossed her arms over her chest. "But you said it was personal. You could have just said you were working-"

"Well it was kind of personal actually. At least why he wasn't telling anyone," Karin interrupted again, her eyes going from Toshiro and then to her dad. "It's personal because Toshiro and I are sort of-kind of... dating."

It was quiet for a long moment then, before Ichigo all of a sudden stood up from the table. "What in the hell do you mean by that?"

 **A few minutes later, outside of Urahara's**

It was quiet for a long moment, before Isshin sighed. "So you two are in a relationship?"

"Yes." Karin replied right away, happy for words to finally be said. They had been standing there in silence since they got outside. She had been focusing on her dad, ignoring her brother's glare, and using the fact that Orihime knew as reassurance.

"Karin," Ichigo started, uncrossing his arms to motion to Urahara's where the shinigami still were. "He is way too old for you. What in the hell are you thinking-"

"Ichigo," Orihime interrupted him, as she picked Mina up out of her carrier when she got a little fussy. "You need to hear her out."

When Ichigo didn't say anything in response, Karin's focus went back to her dad, and he was also not saying anything. Realizing she should start talking, she took a deep breath, and leaned back against the car. "Well as you know, I spent part of my music program getting into arguments with Ryuu because he was being a dick and acting as if I didn't exist for several days at a time. After the hollows started showing up, Toshiro stayed just to train me. Then we kind of became friends sort of. It wasn't until I broke up with Ryuu-"

"So you broke up with Ryuu to be with Toshiro?" Ichigo interrupted, a glare back in his eyes.

"No," Karin snapped back, this time holding irritation in her eyes. "I broke up with Ryuu because he clearly forgot I existed as soon as I left home, and I don't deserve to be with someone who doesn't care about me-"

"Okay," Isshin interrupted Karin, holding a hand up. "You do deserve someone who cares about you Karin. No one is judging you for making that call here."

Karin sighed and rubbed her temple. "Toshiro and my friends were just helping me out through everything with Ryuu. They were encouraging me to try and make it work at first, but then after I broke up with him they were there for me… It wasn't until the day before we came back when the thing with Toshiro started. Well not officially started, but things changed from being just friends."

"How long is official?" Isshin asked after another moment of silence.

"It's been a month. I didn't want to keep it a secret, but I was concerned about how people would react." Karin replied, her eyes going to Ichigo, and she raised an eyebrow.

"I'm just concerned," Ichigo shot back immediately. "I don't want him taking advantage of you-"

"Okay, let's get one thing straight," Karin interrupted, pointing at Ichigo. "He's not taking advantage of me. He didn't kiss me first, I kissed him. I initiated it. Don't make him out to be a bad guy."

Orihime nodded in agreement with Karin. "Ichigo he's a really nice guy. Just because you and Toshiro don't always get along-"

"That's not the point," Ichigo interrupted, then he raised an eyebrow. "Did you know already? About Karin and Toshiro dating?"

Focusing down on Mina for a moment, Orihime sighed. "A little bit. It's really not that big of a deal."

"Obviously it's not to you, because you've known about it-"

"Ichigo, knock it off," Isshin interrupted his son, then focused back on Karin. "I'm going to be honest with you Karin. I don't know if this is the right decision for you to make."

"Dad-"

Isshin held up his hand. "However, it is your decision," he said, as he watched her. "You're getting older, and it was around this age that I let Ichigo start making his own decisions."

Ichigo scowled at that. "Dad it isn't the same thing-"

"You made a lot of your own decisions. Like leaving for weeks at a time to go turn yourself into a shinigami without saying a word to me," Isshin interrupted, as he smirked at his son. Then his eyes went back to Karin. "All I have to say is I want you to be one hundred percent honest with me from now on. When you start keeping secrets, that is when the whole making your own decisions thing becomes a problem."

"Of course," Karin nodded her head immediately. "No more secrets. I can do that."

Silence filled the air, as Isshin watched Karin for a minute. Finally, he crossed his arms over his chest. "You won't be getting off easy. You lied for weeks. I am more concerned that you were lying about having powers, than your… relationship. We'll discuss it when you get home from work tonight."

"Alright, sounds good," Karin said, although she hesitated as everyone else got in the car to leave. Glancing back at Urahara's, she then met her dad's eyes. "I think I'm going to just jog to work, I still have another thirty minutes before I need to get there. I would tell you that I'm going right to work, but honestly, I'll probably talk to Toshiro before I leave."

Isshin paused before getting into the car, then nodded once. "Okay, I will see you at home later."

 **The roof of Urahara's**

"I'm not really surprised," Rukia said, waving her hand across the roof where Toshiro was leaning against the railing. "It makes sense."

"What makes sense?" Rangiku asked, her arms crossed over her chest. "I never pictured him dating anyone, let alone-"

"A Kurosaki," Renji interrupted Rangiku, then he laughed. "I would have never expected that."

At the others laughing, Toshiro sighed, and he turned around to face away from them. "Would you lay off? It's not that unbelievable that I would date someone."

After Toshiro stopped talking, he noticed the others laughter subside, and the door to the roof opened. "We'll continue this later." Came from Rangiku, and Toshiro sighed as he heard the others leave. _Why in the world would I want to continue this conversation-_ His thoughts stopped when he heard laughter. Turning around, his eyebrow raised at the sight of Karin leaning on the railing across the roof from him. Her arms crossed and a smirk on her face.

"Wow, and I thought I was the only one who was going to get interrogated."

Smirking at her words, Toshiro straightened up. "Well you're not locked away in your house for the rest of your life that's a good sign," he said, then he shrugged. "Unless you're on the run. Are you on the run?"

Karin laughed again as she walked over, and stopped near him. "I am not on the run," she replied, as she smiled. "My dad was surprising not as bad as I thought. I mean he made it clear he wasn't sure if this was the best choice, but he also made it clear that it was mine to make. I just have to be one hundred percent honest with him from now on."

"I'm sure Ichigo didn't agree?"

Scoffing, Karin shook her head. "All I have to say is that if you thought you should be cautious around him before we told him, you should be practically ninja cautious now. He's definitely not going to be as easy to convince"

"I'll keep that in mind." Toshiro replied, with a smirk. Keeping her eyes for a moment, then he leaned his head down and kissed her. When they broke the kiss, his eyes met hers again. "It feels kind of relieving to be able to do that openly without starting the next world war."

"I don't know," Karin hummed, as she smiled. Turning to face the edge of the roof, as she placed her hands down on the railing. "There was something kind of thrilling about sneaking around. Telling my dad I was at Kimi's when I was really at your place, or making out in the car when we couldn't find time to be alone."

"So I guess those days are over with you having to be honest and all," Toshiro said, an eyebrow raised at her chuckling. "I mean I highly doubt your dad would be okay with you coming over to my apartment."

Karin shrugged at the thought. "We'll see. I feel like I might not push that for a while because this is all very new for them, but I mean he did say I could start making my own choices. As long as I'm honest, I feel like we'll figure out a compromise."

It was quiet for a long moment, and Toshiro finally laughed. "Well I certainly didn't think any of this would happen when I woke up this morning."

"Same here," Karin agreed, her eyes going down to her phone when her alarm went off. Signaling she needed to go to work. "As much as I'd love to chat, I have to get to work. I'm probably going to be late as it is."

"I can drive you," Toshiro offered, a smile on his face. "Now that we no longer have to hide."

"That would be nice," Karin said, before they kissed again. "This is really perfect actually."

Raising an eyebrow, Toshiro took Karin's hand, and they started towards the door. "Why?"

Karin laughed, as she quickly texted her boss she might be a few minutes late. "I can tell you how Yuzu nearly made my dad have a stroke this morning."

 **Later that night**

Walking in the house, Yuzu kicked the door shut behind her, and kept her focus down on her phone.

"Where have you been?"

Hearing her dad's voice, Yuzu just kept texting on her phone, as she kicked off her shoes. "Out."

"You disappeared after we left earlier today. Then you haven't been answering your phone, and I have no idea where you've been."

Yuzu finally looked up from her phone, and sighed heavily. "My phone was turned off."

Isshin narrowed his eyes at her obvious texting on her "turned off" phone, but he left it alone. "It's eleven, thirty minutes past your curfew, in case you forgot.

"Um Karin's not even home," Yuzu said, motioning to where Karin usually set her bag down. "She's out past curfew too."

"She's been at work, and should be on her way home," Isshin replied, then he motioned to the other couch. "That's not the point. You need to sit down, and we need to discuss your punishment."

Yuzu sat down on the couch, as she finally put her phone down. "What punishment?"

"Well-"

The door opening interrupted Yuzu, and Karin walked in. She locked the door behind her, and dropped her bag in the usual spot. Her eyes going to her dad. "I know we were supposed to discuss the repercussions from the whole powers and Toshiro thing, but can we reschedule for tomorrow morning? I haven't sat down since I got to work today, and some kid threw up on me in the kid's room at the gym. I'd really like to take a shower and go to bed."

"What about Toshiro?" Yuzu asked before Isshin could respond.

Karin's eyes met Yuzu's. "Yeah, we've been dating for the past month."

That brought laughter from Yuzu, then she smirked. "Just a month? What exactly do you two call what you were doing during your music program? Are you telling me that you spent two weeks with him and nothing happened?"

"How do you already know about that?" Isshin asked.

Karin clearing her throat kept Yuzu from responding. "Well you see dad, Yuzu visited me once on our programs, and we caught each other up on somethings that were happening in our lives. Mainly the fact that we both have powers."

"Wait, what?!" Isshin's eyes widened, as he looked to Yuzu. "You have powers too?

Ignoring her dad's question, Yuzu glared at Karin. "Karin!"

"Don't worry dad, she doesn't want to have anything to do with her powers, and she wants to pretend like she's normal-"

"I AM NORMAL!" Yuzu shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. "Why in the hell did you tell him that?"

"Yuzu!" Isshin exclaimed, then his eyes went to Karin. "Go ahead and shower and go to bed. We will talk in the morning."

As soon as Karin went upstairs, Yuzu looked to her dad. "I don't want to talk about it."

"I think we do need to talk about it."

"There is nothing to talk about, because I will never use my powers again," Yuzu stood up from the couch. "And if you're going to try and make me talk about powers that I never wanted and never plan to use again, then I'm going to bed-"

"Yuzu, sit down," Isshin interrupted her, pointing back to the couch. Waiting until after she sat back down, he sighed. "You are going to be grounded because you were clearly in trouble here, and you didn't come to me. You've been in trouble these past several weeks and didn't come to me… You won't be leaving the house the next two weeks, and you aren't to have anyone come over. You will also be taking out the trash every day. You need to reflect on your choices, and you need to do it alone."

"Dad that's not fair!"

"Really?" Isshin asked, an eyebrow raised. "You think that you should be able to keep secrets from your family?"

"It's not that serious," Yuzu countered, throwing her hands up in the air. "It's not like I ended up actually being pregnant or anything."

"Yuzu that's not the point!"

Huffing angrily at her dad's words, Yuzu slapped a hand to her face. "Well I don't see your point! This is so not fair! You can't keep me imprisoned in the house, and away from my friends!"

"I'm not taking away your phone, so your welcome to call or text your friends about how unfair I'm being from the house," Isshin replied, motioning to the stairs. "I think it's time you go upstairs. If you keep trying to argue with me, I will ground you an extra week."

Glaring back at her dad, Yuzu got up and stomped up the stairs. Passing Karin briefly in the hall, as she was going to get her shower. Yuzu kept going until she was in her room, and she slammed the door shut. T _his is so not fair! I obviously have been pretty miserable since I got home from my art program, isn't that punishment enough?_

 **Skip to almost two hours later**

"And now my entire family knows, and it doesn't seem to be making my life any better." Yuzu finished explaining to Hinata, as they moved outside onto the back patio. One of the older kids from the art studio had parents that were out of town on business, and he was having a get together for some of the art studio kids, but it quickly turned into a party.

"What's the punishment?" Hinata asked, sitting down at the table.

"Well I'm going to be stuck in the house for the next two weeks-"

"That doesn't really matter though," Hinata interrupted, as she motioned to Yuzu. "Because you're out of the house now. You'll just keep sneaking out almost every night like you have been all Summer."

"That's not the point. Anyway, I can't leave the house, and no one can come over," Yuzu sat down as well, and sipped the beer in her hands. "Oh and if that wasn't enough, I also have to take the trash out every day for the next two weeks."

Hinata was quiet for a moment, then she shrugged. "Well I guess you should have told your dad."

"Thanks for being on my side."

"It's that Yuzu, but I did tell you that you should talk to-"

"But you don't see why I wouldn't tell him?" Yuzu interrupted, narrowing her eyes.

Sighing at Yuzu's obvious irritation, Hinata shook her head. "Don't be like that Yuzu. I'm just saying that I'm sure if I was in your situation, my parents would probably ground me for the rest of my life if I told them I lost my virginity at fifteen and thought I was pregnant, all without telling them."

Scowling at Hinata's words, Yuzu finished the rest of her beer, and stood up from the table. "I thought you were on my side, but it sure is hell doesn't feel like it," she walked over to the door to go back inside the house. "Thanks so much. I'm going home now."

 **The next morning, 9th of August**

Walking downstairs, Karin adjusted her work shirt, and her eyes moved to the living room where Orihime and Ichigo were sitting on the couch. "Do you two ever spend time at your own house? Not that I mind seeing Orihime, Mina, or Bingo."

"Ha ha," Ichigo shot back, before motioning to their dad that just came out of the kitchen. "Dad's watching Mina and Bingo for us, since we both have training today."

"Ah." Karin said, just as there was a knock on the front door. Walking over, she opened the door, and smiled when she saw Toshiro.

"Good morning." Toshiro greeted, smiling back at her as he stepped inside.

"Good morning to you too." Karin replied, as she closed the front door.

While Ichigo immediately held a frown on his face, Orihime just smiled. "You're here early."

"I'm giving Karin a ride to work."

Karin, who was putting her shoes on, reached over to Toshiro's shoulder for balance. "I have to say this is a lot nicer than you having to pick me up from down the block, or making excuses as to why you are over here."

"I'm usually not making up excuses to be here Karin," Toshiro replied, then he motioned to Orihime. "I am friends with Orihime, incase you forgot."

Karin smiled, as she finished with her shoes and moved over to where Mina was in her carrier. "True-"

"Karin, before you go," Isshin interrupted his daughter, as he got her to look at him. "We still need to discuss somethings, and it might be a good idea if we step outside or go into the study to discuss them."

Unsure of what he was talking about, Karin raised an eyebrow, then remembered they were supposed to discuss the repercussions from not telling him about her powers and Toshiro. Shrugging her shoulders, Karin crossed her arms, and rested them on her knees. "I don't really mind if they are in the room. Let's just get this over with."

Isshin cleared his throat, then nodded once. "Alright, well the problem I have with everything you told me yesterday, is that you have powers. You've had them for a couple months now, and you're continuing training with-"

"Akira. I'm training with Akira now," Karin interrupted, then she nodded once. "Continue."

"Alright well you continuing to train, even with the supervision from Akira is taking on risk, and that's something you should have told me-"

"I'm sorry I'm interrupting again," Karin apologized, then motioned to Ichigo. "I'm not really disagreeing with you, but didn't Ichigo lie about being a shinigami for several months?"

That brought a smirk to Ichigo's face, as he folded his arms behind his head. "Actually, I was grounded for nearly an entire month. You probably didn't notice because that was back when you were living your life with a whole "dead to the world" personality, and not this new "way too happy to be alive" personality."

Karin laughed at Ichigo's response. "Fair enough. Alright dad, continue."

Isshin raised an eyebrow at her easy-going attitude. "Okay, well I also have an issue with you spending so much time with a boy when you were supposed to be at your music program to learn... However, you did say that nothing really happened between the two of you until the program was almost over, and I understand that. More importantly, you haven't been honest with me about seeing Toshiro since you got home," he said, execting Karin to interject, but he was surprised to see her remain silent. "For not being honest with me, you are going to be spending more time at the house these next two weeks. You can go to and from work, then to the soccer camp that we already paid for. You'll be doing the dishes for the two weeks. This also means that you will not be going to training and you will have to wait to start your first driving lesson until the two weeks are up."

It was quiet after Isshin stopped talking, and Karin nodded after a moment to take all of that in. "Okay. Sounds good."

After Yuzu's response to her punishment last night, Isshin was certainly not expecting Karin to be so calm. "You agree with this?"

"I mean, it's fair. I should have told you as soon as I got home," Karin said, motioning to Toshiro. "Well about Toshiro and I at least. The whole powers thing probably should have been discussed back when I was still at my program... Can I be honest?"

"Yeah, of course you can." Isshin replied, still unsure of why Karin was acting so calm.

Karin took a deep breath. "I honestly didn't tell you about the hollows or my powers during my trip, because I thought you or Ichigo would panic and make me come home. I realize that's not really a good reason, but that's why I didn't say anything about that."

Watching Karin for a moment longer, Isshin nodded once. "Thanks for telling me."

With that said, Karin stood up from where she was watching Mina, and straightened her work shirt out. "Oh, before Kimi or I slip up, I should probably tell you that I did go to a party or few during the program, and I had like a beer or two at most of the parties. But it's all good. I was mostly responsible about it apart from the one time when my boyfriend at the time decided he was going to completely ignore the fact that I exist, then proceeded to tell me that I was being dramatic when I told him it bothered me. I wasn't that responsible that night, but Kimi and Toshiro were really good at making sure I didn't do anything stupid."

"Karin..." Toshiro mumbled at her bringing him into this.

"I'm just trying to be honest," Karin said, waving off Toshiro's raised eyebrow, as her eyes went to her dad. "You can add an extra week onto my punishment if you'd like."

"Who would volunteer themselves for that?" Ichigo questioned under his breath.

Isshin chuckled when he heard what Ichigo said. "I won't be adding another week on... It's not like I didn't expect a little bit of you experimenting in all of that. At least you were responsible about it."

Karin's eyes moved to Toshiro. "So I guess we won't be seeing much of each other the next two weeks," she said, grinning at him. "Try not to miss me too much."

"No actually it's fine," Toshiro smirked back at her. "I can just do things like sit in silence for once when eating dinner, and not have someone talk the entire way through a movie.

Karin laughed. "Wow, rude!"

Studying his daughter and Toshiro for a moment, Isshin hummed. "I have thought about it, and if you want, Toshiro can come over here to see you during the next couple weeks. But only at the house, or else the whole grounding aspect really loses it's touch."

Sighing dramatically, Karin rested her face on her hand. "Damn, there goes my two weeks of freedom."

"Thanks a lot." Toshiro shot back, his smirk reappearing.

"You're welcome," Karin said, looking down at her phone as her alarm went off. "I have to get to work. Toshiro's going to give me a ride there, then take me home later this evening."

Before Karin could turn to the door, Toshiro took her hand. "Didn't you say you were going to be a hundred percent honest with your dad now?"

Karin's eyes met Toshiro's, and she raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry. Are you not giving me a ride to work, then giving me a ride home?"

"Yes," Toshiro replied, smirking as he crossed his arms. "I'm talking about what you did while you were gone on your program. On your birthday."

Karin's face went completely pale, as she then looks to her dad then Toshiro. Then she propped her hands on her hips. "Do not-"

"What did you do on your birthday?" Isshin interrupted her.

Karin, however, kept her focus on Toshiro, as she glared at him. "Do you hate me?"

"No, I'm just helping you keep your promise to your dad about being honest."

"That doesn't have anything to do with our relationship, which is what I said I was going to be more honest about."

"True," Toshiro agreed, then he shrugged. "But I feel like you should probably tell him about this. He's going to find out sooner or later."

"I really disagree." Karin shot back, but noticed the raised eyebrow on Toshiro's face. Sighing heavily, she looked to her dad. "Long story short, on my birthday I thought it'd be really cool to get my belly button pierced, and I did with one of my friends Naomi on my birthday." She paused to lift up her shirt barely to show the piercing. "I know it's not legal to do in Karakura Town until you are sixteen without parents permission, but it was legal in New Luna City at fifteen. I figured you might be upset that I did this, but to be fair it is my body and it's not like it's permanent."

Isshin's laughter filled the air after Karin stopped talking, and he tried to settle it down at Karin's confused look. "You know what Karin, between you and your sister, that's probably the lowest of the things I need to worry about… It is your body, but I would appreciate the next time you decide to do something like this, you at least tell me first."

"So can I get a tattoo?" Karin asked immediately.

Again Isshin laughed, but this time it was short and he smirked afterward. "Not unless you want to be grounded until you turn eighteen."

"Okay then," Karin said, then she looked at Toshiro. "Happy now?"

"Yes actually, I am." Toshiro replied a smirk on his face, as they go to the door. "That wasn't the end of the world at all."

"You are so proud of yourself." Karin says, shaking her head as they left. A smile on her face. _I'm kind of glad my family knows now. It's hard to keep something that makes me so happy to myself._

* * *

 **A/N: This was the chapter where secrets were told, and the consequences followed. Yuzu sneaking out the night after getting grounded kind of seems to be Yuzu's usual behavior these days. It's surprising to see her taking on a more moody and not so perfect attitude and lifestyle after spending most of her life following the rules and being her dad's perfect role model of a child. Now we see Karin taking on a more mature type role instead of hiding behind her headphones. What was your favorite scene for the chapter?**

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	9. Grounded

_Review:_

" _Okay then," Karin said, then she looked at Toshiro. "Happy now?"_

" _Yes actually, I am." Toshiro replied a smirk on his face, as they go to the door. "That wasn't the end of the world at all."_

" _You are so proud of yourself." Karin says, shaking her head as they left. A smile on her face. I'm kind of glad my family knows now. It's hard to keep something that makes me so happy to myself._

* * *

 **A few days later, 11th of August**

Noticing Hinata's chestnut brown hair from a distance, Yuzu was quick to wrap around the railing, and start up the stairs. After their argument a few nights ago, they had yet to talk. Which was kind of awkward the past few nights when they'd go out to the same party or when their friends wanted to hangout. _It's not like I can hang out with our friends other than when I sneak out at night. Dad won't let me out of the house during the day._

"Yuzu!"

The sound of Kat's voice hit Yuzu's ears, as Yuzu had walked out onto the balcony of the house they were at. Offering Kat a smile, Yuzu joined her over at the table she was sitting at. "Hey Kat, it's been a while."

"Yeah well, I've had a pretty busy past week and a half. My mom and I went on a vacation to the islands. She had to go there for her job, and invited me because she still doesn't trust me staying home alone." Kat told her a smirk on her face. "I'm jut kidding, but she actually invited me so we could spend time together. Either way, I got to go hang out on the beach for a week and a half."

"Is that why you're so tan?" Yuzu countered, laughing along with Kat.

"Thanks for noticing this very skilled tan I have. All it took was getting sunburnt very badly, then a lot of aloe and lotion," Kat replied as they both laughed again. When their laughter settled, she crossed her arms over her chest. "I noticed Hinata downstairs earlier, why aren't you hanging out with her?"

Sighing at it being brought up, Yuzu gave Kat a quick recap of what happened the day she told her dad about Taro, then about her argument with Hinata that night.

"Damn that really sucks," Kat said, a frown on her face. "Why does your sister get to see her boyfriend, and you can't see anyone?"

"Because our punishments are different," Yuzu waved her hand. "Not that it matters, because I still see my friends. My dad just doesn't know about it."

"True," Kat agreed, then she cleared her throat. "I don't want to pressure you to talk about this if you don't want to, but I want to talk about what happened between you and I the last time we saw each other."

Leaning back against her chair, Yuzu sighed. "I really don't know what to say... It was the first time I ever kissed a girl."

Kat was quiet for a moment, then she shrugged. "I don't know Yuzu. I can't tell you what to feel, but to me it seems like your not a lesbian. From what you told me about this Taro guy, you have feelings for him. You might be bi-sexual, but that's really for you to figure out."

"I guess," Yuzu agreed with a nod. "It's not like I have a lot of experience with guys or girls..."

"Well I have had some experience with both, and I've found that I'm only attracted to girls. But I really knew that ever since I had my first kiss," Kat replied, then she sipped her beer. "You just might be one of those people who is just attracted to a person because of who they are. Their personality."

Yuzu nodded slowly, then she chuckled. "To be fair, I think I was mostly attracted to your physical appearance, as well as your personality. The red lipstick."

"Red is your favorite color after all," Kat replied, laughing along with Yuzu this time. "But seriously though, we don't have to make a big deal about it. I think you're not sure if you're done with Taro or not, and to be honest, there is a girl in my grade that I kind of have a thing with. Not like a relationship yet, but it could be."

"I agree. While Taro and I haven't really had a full conversation yet, I still think I might want to see where it goes with him. I mean of course he may not even be interested in me anymore after how it's been over a month. I still would like to talk to him though."

Kat nodded. "But maybe you should do it after this whole grounding thing ends. Either way, I think you and I probably shouldn't kiss each other again."

"You're right," Yuzu agreed, then she grinned. "That kiss was really hot though."

Laughing at that, Kat kicked her feet up on the railing along the balcony, and she met Yuzu's eyes. "It was."

 **A few days later, the 16th**

"Shhh."

"I'm just asking-"

"Shhh."

"Karin."

"Toshiro," Karin shot back immediately, as she looked up from her laptop. "I am so close to finishing this stupid paper that I don't care about, and I really just want to get it over with."

That brought a smirk to Toshiro's face. "I just wanted to say hi and ask where my girlfriend went. You're working more than I am."

Laughing lightly, Karin glanced away from her laptop, over to where Toshiro was updating reports from his division for the Soul Society. "There's a first for everything."

"You're telling me." Toshiro replied, leaning over to her and kissing her.

They broke their kiss apart when footsteps were heard on the stairs, and Karin turned back to face her laptop. "Going to work?"

"Yeah, I'm running a little behind," Isshin replied, as he sat on the other couch to put his shoes on. "What are you two working on?"

"Well Toshiro's working on some paperwork for his division in the Soul Society," Karin replied, as she focused back on her laptop. "I am about to finish my summer paper for my literature class, then I will be starting on the way too long packet for my math class."

Raising an eyebrow at that, Isshin finished putting on his shoes. "I'm surprised you're getting your work done now instead of waiting until last minute."

"Yeah well, when I do get the ability to see other people besides my family, my boyfriend, and the people I work with, I have a study group that Kimi and I signed up for. We're supposed to be going over all this stuff to make sure we got it right before school starts."

"Even so, I'm still proud of you for not waiting until last minute." Isshin said, his eyes going to the stairs when there was a sound. Then Yuzu appeared. "Good afternoon Yuzu. I would have said good morning, but this is the first time I'm seeing you out of your room. So I guess you skipped morning."

Yuzu mumbled something of a greeting under her breath, and walked into the kitchen.

"Well she's about as chipper as usual-"

"Karin." Isshin interrupted her, shaking his head.

Karin shrugged, as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Her bad attitude is getting old."

"I think the best thing you can do is just to let it go." Toshiro told her, sighing as that made Karin laugh.

"I agree with Toshiro on this one." Isshin said with a nod, as he got up. Grabbing his bag for work.

Yuzu walked out of the kitchen, a drink and a pop-tart in hand. Stopping by the couch, her eyes met Karin's, and she scoffed.

Letting go of everything Toshiro and her dad told her, Karin offered her sister a sarcastic smile. "Can I help you?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Yuzu leaned against the back of the couch. "It must be nice to still be able to talk to other people outside of this family and see them in person."

"I'm not allowed to see my friends just like you aren't, and I'm very appreciative of the fact that our dad is letting me still see Toshiro. I'm also being respectful of our dad's wishes and not complaining about the punishment that I rightfully deserve every five minutes," Karin shot back quickly, her last words pointing daggers at Yuzu who has done nothing but complain about the punishment she received. "I mean me of course, I can't speak for others."

Yuzu glared darkly in Karin's direction, but didn't say anything back.

Isshin sighed at the sight of the two glaring at each other. "Girls I have to go, try not to kill each other while I'm gone."

The second their dad walked out the door, Yuzu scoffed at Karin again. "Stop sucking up to dad. It's annoying."

"I'm not sucking up! I'm just not acting like a baby and whining, because I got punished for doing something I shouldn't have," Karin snapped back, then she laughed sarcastically. "Oh, and by the way, I know you've been sneaking out of the house every night to go meet up with your friends even though dad told you not to see them. So your whole dramatic act is bullshit."

Huffing angrily, Yuzu turned and stomped up the stairs.

Karin sighed heavily, and focused back on her laptop screen. Although she felt Toshiro's eyes on her, and she looked over to him. "She started with me first."

"Actually you said something first-"

"Did you not see the snarky look on her face?" Karin interrupted.

Toshiro noticed Karin's irritation flaring up, and he smirked. "I guess I missed it."

Karin's face softened at that, and she sighed. "Okay, I probably should have just said nothing... But I actually don't regret it, because it's not like didn't deserve it. She's been acting so annoying since this whole grounding thing started. She acts like she's being punished for doing nothing, and it's starting to get on my nerves."

"Alright," Toshiro said, leaning over to kiss the top of Karin's head. "I'm not getting involved."

"That's probably a good idea," Karin said, her eyes going back to focus on writing her paper. However, now her mind was completely blank. "Damn it, I forgot what I was going to write next."

 **A couple days later, Thursday**

Hearing a knock on her door, Yuzu sighed heavily, and put her headphones back on her ears. "Go away, I'm studying!" She called out, laying back on her pillows. However, when she noticed the door open, she glanced over to see it was Hinata. Sitting back up, she lowered her headphones off her ears and on her neck. "What are you doing here? I'm not supposed to see any humans apart from my family until Monday."

"Well after talking to your dad for nearly ten minutes, and I threw in that I might want to be a doctor someday. I managed to get entrance to the house to talk to you," Hinata crossed her arms over chest. "Back up, why did you say you are studying? School doesn't start until the week after next."

Yuzu motioned over to her desk. "I told my dad and my sister that I was doing those stupid assignments they give you to complete the summer before school starts in order to keep them from bothering me."

That brought a half smile to Hinata's face. "Being a moody teenager at its finest."

Yuzu and Hinata both laughed at that, before it got quiet. Yuzu felt the silence pressing on her a bit, then she sighed. "I'm really sorry Hinata. You obviously were just trying to me to do the right thing, and I was just being a total bitch about it because I was mad."

"No, I think you had a point," was Hinata's immediate reply, as she waved her hand. "I should have raged with you that night, then told you all the "do the right thing" stuff the next day."

"That's very nice of you, but I'm the ungrateful person who couldn't handle it when her best friend had to be real with her-"

"Wait I'm your best friend?" Hinata interrupted, an eyebrow raised.

Yuzu nodded. "Yeah of course. I know we've only known each other for about two months, but I couldn't imagine my life without you."

That brought a smile to Hinata's face, as she moved over to join Yuzu on her bed. "It's been so hard being "mad" at you this past almost week and a half."

"I know. It was difficult to have to split up times with our friends too," Yuzu agreed, then she smirked. "Yukio obviously took your side."

Hinata blushed, but tried to hide it as she shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about... Changing the subject. What's new? Apart from essentially being on house arrest, even though you have been sneaking out every night."

"Karin knows about that," Yuzu said, a frown on her face. "I pissed her off a couple days ago, and she told me she knew."

"Well at least she hasn't told your dad."

"Yeah I guess... I talked to Taro."

That made Hinata's eyes widen. "Shut up. What happened?"

"This actually happened the day I went to that OBGYN doctor. I just didn't tell anyone about it. Then you and I got in this fight a few days later, so I haven't had the chance to tell you..." Yuzu trailed off and sighed. "I told him that I missed him, and he said he missed me to. I was obviously a mess already, because this was right before my appointment."

"Of course you were a mess. Now what else happened?"

"Not much, I was about to have a hysterical breakdown on the phone with him, so I got off as quick as possible, so I could have that hysterical breakdown in the parking lot of the hospital." Yuzu replied, clasping her hands together.

"Oh wow..." Hinata trailed off, then she rested her hand on the bed to prop herself up as she leaned a little back. "Do you think you want to talk to him again?"

"Yeah, I feel better now. Knowing that everything is okay... I don't know if I'm fully there yet emotionally, but I want to try," Yuzu said, taking in a deep breath. "I miss him. I really miss him."

Hinata nodded quickly. "Of course you do. You two definitely had a connection."

A buzz sound came from Yuzu's phone, and it was a text from her dad telling her that Hinata had to leave soon. "Damn, my dad says we have to wrap it up."

"That's fine," Hinata said, getting up from the bed, and grabbing her bag. "I negotiated at least thirty minutes with your dad."

"It probably wouldn't have been that big of a deal for you to come over and stay a little while. But we have this barbeque today. Family is coming over, and some of Ichigo's friends who are family are coming," Yuzu stopped to wave her hand. "Honestly it gets so complicated sometimes. My family tree has more people connected to it that aren't blood related than I can keep track of. Either way, I'll probably be suffering in silence for most of it."

Hinata laughed, then eyed Yuzu's outfit of a t-shirt and pajama shorts. "Is that what you're wearing?"

Yuzu shrugged as she looked down at her clothes. "No, but it's a lot more difficult to dress like a functioning human when most of my clothes are more suitable for parties or stuff to sleep in. My wardobe used to consist mostly of dresses and skirts, but then I outgrew a lot of that in the past six months. Now I'm just left with grungy clothes. Maybe I got left with all of Karin's old clothes when she moved out when we got back home after our programs."

"Well I still have another eighteen minutes left of my visit," Hinata started, as she moved over to Yuzu's closet. "I can try to use my magic and find something suitable in here."

Sighing at how Hinata instantly already started pulling stuff out of her closet, Yuzu smiled. "I'm so glad we're friends again."

" _Best_ friends." Hinata said, smiling back at Yuzu.

 **The next day, 19th**

"Whoa!" Akira exclaimed, her eyebrows raised in Karin's direction. Note they were in Karin's backyard as that was the only way Karin could agree to Karin training at all.

"I'm sorry," Karin started, her eyes wide at the power exploding from her hands. After she reigned it back in, she took a deep breath as her eyes went to Akira. "I don't know what's going on."

"Maybe you're just a bit out of touch since we haven't trained since before your punishment started," Akira offered, as she motioned for Karin to back up a bit. "Try again, but a very small amount."

"Okay..." Karin trailed off, as she closed her eyes. This time when she focused on her powers, she put everything else aside, and slowly started to summon her power to her hand. A split second of calm, then chaos blew up. Her power exploded out of her hand, and she got knocked onto her back.

Akira jogged over, and knelt down next to her. "Are you okay?"

Scowling, Karin opened her eyes. "Yeah," she started, as she accepted Akira's hand to stand up. "I don't get it. I'm doing exactly what I've done for months, and now all of a sudden it's like I have no control over my power."

"Well to be fair the amount of power you are projecting... It seems to be a lot more than usual," Akira said, her arms crossed. "It could be something else that is causing you to not be able to control it. That's the funny thing about Somi people. We are connected to the spiritual world and the human world, but we also extend into a strange world of unconsciousness such as dreams or visions. With all these factors coming in, things like this happen, and could very well be about something we just don't know yet."

"Honestly, that's a lot of information for me to comprehend right now," Karin said, her hand going to the back of her head. "I'm pretty sure I just gave myself a concussion."

Akira smirked at that. "Well good thing your dad's a doctor... About the whole power thing, I think you need to work on tackling whatever is causing this disruption in your power."

"So you think I should stop training?"

"Not completely. I just think you should focus more on meditation and just focus on your stamina for now," Akira replied, noticing Karin's frown continue. "We'll get together again as soon as you feel like you're ready. The weekends will probably be better for me, but I can occasionally do weekdays in the evenings. I live over thirty minutes away now, instead of the usual ten minutes."

"Okay..." Karin trailed off, feeling a little defeated, but accepting the fact that they couldn't do any more today.

"Double check with your dad later to make sure you don't have a concussion," Akira said, pausing at the back door to look back at Karin. "Call me if anything changes."

Karin held up a thumbs up, then grabbed her water. Taking a long sip, she closed her eyes and sighed. _This whole training experience has been amazing up until this point, then after almost two weeks of not training I can't use my powers correctly anymore... It doesn't make since. Sure I'd be a little rusty, but this much difficulty. Why is this happening?_

Leaving her thoughts be, Karin opened her eyes, and started up the back steps onto the porch. Her eyes focusing on the door, she noticed the area surrounding the door started to blur. Coming to a stop, she tried to focus her vision, and found herself causing the blur to increase. Blinking her eyes to try and help, when she re-opened them everything was different.

 _Instead of her back porch, she found herself walking up concrete steps. Looking forward to the door, she raised an eyebrow at the tall double oak doors in front of her. On each of the doors there was a colorful window with full trees on them._

 _"What in the hell is going on?"_

 _Her words seemed to echo off walls of nothing. She turned around to find an endless white room. Turning back around to face the concrete steps and the double oak doors. She took a step towards them. Reaching out, she attempted to open the doors to find they wouldn't budge. Beginning to feel frustrated, she continued trying to push on the doors, but they remained sealed shut._

"Karin!"

Her dad's voice brought her back to the porch. Reaching out, she put her free hand on one of the chairs on the patio, and took a breath. "Yeah dad?"

"Dishes are ready to be unloaded from the dishwasher!"

"Okay, I'll be in a second!" Karin called back, her eyes leave the back door to her hand. She held it up and tried to summon her power again, this time the flow was normal, and she had no trouble keeping control of it. _I don't-_ Breaking off as her power surged, and she got a flash of the double doors again. She let her power die out, and she took in a breath. _I think that this power surge is related to this vision I'm having... The only thing is that I don't know what it means._

 **A couple days later, 22nd**

Opening her eyes, Yuzu was greeted with the bright sunlight coming in through her window. Her eyes moved to the clock that read it was just past nine a.m.. Taking in a breath and releasing it slowly, she felt at peace. She hadn't been out with her friends the past few nights, as she wanted to try to get some more sleep and re-energize. _It was certainly worth it, I feel great waking up for once-_

"Oh my god." Yuzu said, interrupting her thoughts, as she suddenly remembered that her two weeks of being grounded was over today. _I have so many things I need to do, but most importantly..._ She reached over to her bedside table, and grabbed her phone. Quickly tapping the numbers, and she held it up to her ear. She listened to it ring, and tried to keep calm.

 _"Hello."_

"Hey," Yuzu started, a smile growing on her face. "What are you up to today?"

 **Eleven p.m.**

"Wow that was so much fun!" Karin exclaimed, jumping out of the car, and shutting the door with a little over-excited slam. Skipping around to the front of the car, she grinned at her dad as he got out of the passenger's side.

"It was more stressful than fun for me, but that'll hopefully get better..." Isshin trailed off, as he started towards the front door of the house. Walking in, he immediately looked over to see Orihime, Ichigo, and Toshiro on the couch. Mina in Ichigo's arms, and Bingo on the floor. "What are you all doing here?"

Ichigo adjusted Mina in his arms, as she started to fuss. "Well we have the afternoon off from training and we wanted to see if you wanted to grab lunch."

Karin stepped inside the house, her eyes focused down on her phone, as she closed the door.

"Oh," Orihime started, reaching over to get Mina from Ichigo, as she assumed she was getting hungry. "By the way Karin-"

"Whoa!" Karin exclaimed, as she was knocked over onto her back, and was attacked with a hug."

Orihime laughed awkwardly. "Kimi's here."

"I hadn't noticed. "Karin deadpanned, her eyes closed to avoid all of Kimi's blonde hair all in her face.

"I miss you so much Karin!" Kimi exclaimed as she hugged her friend. "You have no idea!"

"I think I do," Karin replied, as she tried to adjust so she could breathe better. "I missed you too, but could you like, get off? I can't really breathe."

Sighing dramatically, Kimi moved to stand up along with Karin, but she remained standing right next to her. "I have so much to tell you."

"Me too." Karin said, straightening out her shirt a little, and smoothing down her hair.

"You know Karin," Isshin said, as he moved over to sit on the couch diagonal from the door. "I didn't take away your cell phone. You could still talk to your friends, just not go anywhere with them and enjoy life."

That made the others laugh, and Karin just waves off her dad's words. "That's not enough dad. There are so many things that happen every day that I can't just simply text Kii and tell her. It has to be in person."

Kimi nodded quickly in agreement. "Yeah, I mean I could always text Karin that my brother drove his car over our mailbox yesterday, but it doesn't have the same effect."

"Wait, did that actually happen?" Karin asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Yes, while he was trying to go to work," Kimi grinned at the memory. "He was going to come back and fix it later, but a cop happened to be driving by and thought he had hit some random person's mailbox and was trying to drive away. He would have gotten arrested if my parents didn't come home in time to tell the cop that he lived at our house."

Karin laughed in response to Kimi's story. Toshiro, however, just cleared his throat for Kimi's attention. "But why didn't you go out and tell the cop that he was your brother and that he lived there."

Kimi shrugged in response. "The thought didn't cross my mind."

"I missed you," Karin said, smiling in Kimi's direction, before her eyes went to Toshiro. "What are you doing here? Don't you have to go on assignment for a few days-" Karin broke off, as her eyes went to Kimi, then back to Toshiro. "You know, for work obviously."

"Yes, I just have some last minute things to do at Urahara's, and I wanted to know how your first time driving experience was."

Karin smiled at the thought. "It was amazing."

Smirking, Toshiro's eyes moved to Isshin. "How was your experience?"

Laughing, Isshin shook his head. "I would describe it more like terrifying."

While everyone else joined in with Isshin's laughter, Karin moved a few steps closer to Toshiro. "Yeah, it was-"

"Oh no!" Kimi interrupted her friend, as she pointed to Toshiro. "Absolutely not. You have got to actually see Karin in person the past two weeks, and it's finally my time."

Toshiro smirked back at Kimi. "Forgive me for wanting to talk to my girlfriend."

"Forgive me for wanting to talk to my best friend," Kimi said, crossing her arms over her chest. "You're not going to win this one."

"Okay," Toshiro gave in, shaking his head as he stood up to walk towards the door. Stopping by Karin, as he hugged her and kissed her once. "I will try to text or call you tonight once we get to our location."

"Alright-"

"Yeah, yeah, let's go Karin," Kimi interrupted her, as she took her friend's hand and started to the stairs. "Goodbye Toshiro."

That made the others laugh, and Toshiro just shook his head. His eyes going to the others. "I guess I'll be seeing you all in a few days."

Orihime offered Toshiro a half-wave, as she was in the process of getting up to go into the kitchen to grab a bottle for Mina, who was getting fussy. "Have fun, try not to die!"

"Thanks, that was so meaningful." Toshiro chuckled, as he left the house. Once on the porch, he stopped at the stairs when he got a text. A smile appearing on his face, as he opened it.

 _Karin: Be careful. I'm going to miss you these next few days. Plus I need you to come back to save me from going to spend hours on end at the mall with Kimi for back to school shopping._

That brought a chuckle from Toshiro, as he texted back. _You'll be fine. You owe Kimi at least a few hours of shopping to make up for not seeing her for two weeks... And I'll miss you too._

 **At the park**

"I know it wasn't fair of me to just shut you out, but I was struggling with so much. Pretty much the entire time since we left the Summer program, I have felt kind of out of it." Yuzu explained, her eyes focusing forward to meet the grey eyes with that slight green tint to them that belonged to Taro.

"To be honest, I didn't really feel too good about going as far as we did either," Taro said, then he waved his hand. "Not that I'm saying I didn't enjoy it, because I did. I mean that we probably shouldn't have."

Yuzu nodded in agreement. "And I don't want to make you change yourself. If that's the type of relationship you're looking for, that's fine. It's just not going to be me. I don't want to do that again, at least not anytime soon."

"I respect that Yuzu," Taro said, a frown settling on his face. "I wish we didn't. I feel bad-"

"No," Yuzu said, actually stepping forward to him, and resting her hand on his cheek. "Don't feel bad okay? I'm just as responsible for what happened. I should have been the one to say something, but in the moment I didn't want to stop. After everything we went through those three weeks, I felt closer to you than I have been to anyone else. I just feel like what ended up happening was because I was so happy, and so comfortable with you."

"I feel that way about you too," Taro said, a grin growing on his face. "We might be onto something... I don't mean that sexually. At all."

Yuzu laughed. "I missed you."

"I missed you too."

"I'd like to go back to how it was before... You know.. That night."

"I would like that as well."

"Good." Yuzu said, feeling the same fluttering feeling inside of her as she looked into Taro's eyes. Without really thinking, she had taken a few steps forward, and kissed him. Feeling his arms lightly wrap around her, as they kissed, she felt the fluttering feeling inside intensify. When their kiss broke, she slowly opened her eyes to meet him, and saw him smiling.

"You have no idea how much I missed this." Taro told her, his arms remaining around her.

"I know." Yuzu agreed, resting her head on his chest, and taking in every part of this moment. Finally feeling completely happy for the first time in a while. _I don't want this feeling to go away._

* * *

 **A/N: The girls are finally done being grounded, and things seem to be going good for them. Karin finally got to have her first driving lesson with her dad, and Yuzu made up with Hinata and Taro. Karin is starting to have a little bit of a struggle with her training. What do you think this vision/dream she has been having means?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

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 **Also be sure to check out my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot .com (no spaces)**


	10. First Day of High School

_Review:_

 _"Good." Yuzu said, feeling the same fluttering feeling inside of her as she looked into Taro's eyes. Without really thinking, she had taken a few steps forward, and kissed him. Feeling his arms lightly wrap around her, as they kissed, she felt the fluttering feeling inside intensify. When their kiss broke, she slowly opened her eyes to meet him, and saw him smiling._

 _"You have no idea how much I missed this." Taro told her, his arms remaining around her._

 _"I know." Yuzu agreed, resting her head on his chest, and taking in every part of this moment. Finally feeling completely happy for the first time in a while. I don't want this feeling to go away._

* * *

 **A week later, 29th of August**

Staring at her reflection, Yuzu brushed through some tangles in her hair. It had grown a couple inches over the Summer, and was now hitting just below her chest. She got her bangs trimmed a little when she and Hinata stopped by the hair salon after doing some back to school shopping over the weekend. _Speaking of clothes..._ Her eyes drifted down to her red floral t-shirt, then to the jean shorts and white converse. According to Hinata when they were shopping, the whole white converse thing is back in style. _I don't know... I just feel uncomfortable. Pretty much my whole life my first back to school outfit consisted of dresses or skirts. I never really owned jean shorts before this Summer, and I never really followed the crowd._

Her alarm beeping on her phone caught her attention, and it reminded her she needed to hurry about and get moving. School started in an hour and a half, and she needed to eat and get to school. Pushing her bangs back behind her ear, she grabbed her bookbag and phone, and left to go downstairs. She didn't even make it to the bottom of the stairs before hearing Karin talking about a cat. Pausing to take a deep breath, she rolled her eyes and finished walking down the stairs. "Morning."

"Good morning Yuzu." Isshin spoke up, as Karin only offered Yuzu a half wave and a short, "hi."

After she dropped her bag on the couch, Yuzu went into the kitchen to grab some cereal, and returned back to join them at the table.

"So back to the cat." Karin started, having already finished her cereal, and was looking at cat pictures on her phone.

Isshin smirked at Karin, as his eyes focused down on the newspaper in his hands. "I thought we tabled this discussion."

"Well I've got new propositions."

"Great well I can't wait to hear them-"

"I can," Yuzu interrupted her dad, sighing heavily, as her eyes went to Karin. "You've talked non-stop about this all Summer. Get over it already. It's not going to happen."

Karin shot her sister a sarcastic smile. "Well, unlike some people, I'm not going to just give up on something when I really care about it."

"Okay," Isshin spoke up before Yuzu could. "How about we don't start the morning of your first day back to school on a bad note?"

"That sounds great!" Karin replied overly-cheerful sounding, as she focused back on her phone when she got a text.

Yuzu rolled her eyes, and focused down on finishing her cereal. _I wish I had an extra hour or two of sleep. I've been getting up at eleven every morning, and going to bed at two or three in the morning all Summer. Waking up at six a.m. today was brutal._

"Alright," Karin said, putting her phone down and focusing back on her dad. "So about this potential cat that I could adopt-"

"Okay, that's it," Yuzu interrupted, as she finished her cereal and got up to go put the bowl in the kitchen. "I'm going to school."

"It's only 6:45, the school is only fifteen minutes away if you walk. School starts at 8:30," Karin pointed out, an eyebrow raised as Yuzu left the kitchen to go to the stairs. "What are you going to do for an hour and a half?"

Yuzu paused as she grabbed her bag from the couch. "Um let's see. Not listen to you annoyingly talk about wanting a cat for an hour and a half."

Karin smirked as Yuzu went to the door. "So you're not going to be brush your teeth? Personal hygiene is pretty important. You never know _who_ you'll run into."

Hearing the emphasis on "who", Yuzu glared back at Karin, and dropped her bag back on the couch. Going to the stairs without saying anything, she went to her bathroom, and paused as she grabbed her toothbrush. _Does Karin know?_

 **A little over an hour later**

"Okay," Toshiro stared after he broke their kiss. "You're going to be late."

"No, I'll be fine. We got here early remember?" Karin countered, but didn't wait for a response as she started to kiss him again. Adjusting to be more comfortable, as the center console was digging into her side a little. Her phone buzzing had her sighing as they stopped kissing again. Holding up her phone, she pulled up the text.

 _Kimi: Um where are you?_

 _Karin: I'll be there in a few minutes. Can you meet me at my locker? It's number 102._

Toshiro smirked at Karin's frown. "If you keep telling Kimi you'll be there in a few minutes, she'll eventually come out and find us... Go ahead and go. It'll be good for you to go inside a little early to get settled. Isn't that why you wanted me to pick you up early?"

"Not exactly, it was more for this," Karin smiled, as she kissed him again. This time when she pulled back, she reached over to open the car door. "But I guess getting to school early to get settled might be a good idea. Considering the fact that I've never actually step foot in this school before, as we registered for class out in the athletics building."

"I'll see you later tonight for dinner." Toshiro told her, then he cranked the car back up.

After grabbing her bag, Karin shut the passenger door, and walked around to the driver's side. Smiling as he rolled down his window, and she leaned over to get more on his eye level. "Thank you for waking up early to take me to school this morning. I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome," Toshiro said, leaning over to kiss her. He reached his hand up to push her hair back when they broke apart. "Have a great first day of high school."

Karin's smile widened, as she straightened back up. Stepping back, she waited until he drove away, before turning to face the school. Taking a deep breath, as she took in the building. It was about twice as big as the middle school. There were four floors and the gym was separate than the school. _It's a whole different world._

With that in mind, she started forward, and once she crossed through the front doors, a smile grew back on her face. Starting down the main hallway, she walked almost halfway down the long hallway to get to her locker, and glanced to her phone for the locker combination. _Locker 102 is going to be mine all year. It better be a lucky number._

"Hey baby," Kimi's voice hit Karin's airs, before she appeared beside Karin. Stating at the dial on the locker next to Karin's. "Looks like we're going to be locker neighbors."

Opening her own locker, Karin put some of her notebooks for her classes later in the day in there. "How did you manage that?"

"Well I found the kid who had it, and gave him five dollars. Which was definitely worth it, as my locker was number 11. I was so far away," Kimi replied, copying Karin by putting some notebooks in her locker, then she closed it and her eyes went to Karin's hari. "So you stuck with the blonde underneath, huh?"

"Yeah, I just had the hairdresser touch up some at the roots, trim my bangs, and trim the bottom."

"Still planning on growing your hair out?"

"Yeah, it'll take a while, as my hair's barely chest level in length now. But, it'll be a nice change," Karin turned to face Kimi, and eyed her hair. "I see you went back to full blonde."

Kimi sighed, and leaned back against her locker "Yeah, my parents flipped when they saw that I dyed the lower half black over the program. They were going to let me keep it, but I figured I'd go back to full blonde for a while to appease them."

Karin opened her mouth to reply, but in the corner of her eye she noticed Ryuu walking onto the hall with some guys. Their eyes met, and she held them for a moment. They did have to see each other over the short soccer clinic, which really wasn't a full camp. It only turned into a week of half-days spent playing scrimmage games, and it's not like they really socialized. Karin hung out with some of the girls who were on the middle school team, and Ryuu hung out with the guys.

"Okay," Kimi started, having noticed where Karin's eyes were at. "Does he know you're dating someone else?"

"I don't know," Karin mumbled, her eyes leaving Ryuu to look at Kimi. "I've posted a picture or two of Toshiro and I on Instagram, or other places on social media."

That had Kimi raising an eyebrow. "Well after you broke up with him, I blocked him on everything, remember?"

"Oh yeah, that's right... Regardless I'm sure someone probably has mentioned it to him by now. I'm still kind of friends with some of the guys on the soccer team, and they follow me on social media," Karin shrugged at the thought. "I guess I can unblock him too, it's not like it really matters to me what he's doing. We're not together anymore, and I've moved on. He should too."

"Yeah I guess..." Kimi trailed off, her eyes going back over to Ryuu to see him taking steps towards him. "Is he coming over here?"

"Okay," a new voice spoke up before Karin could say anything, and a girl with auburn hair, freckles, and glasses stepped in their eyesight. "This is pretty awesome."

Karin, who had met Ryuu's eyes, broke eye contact as he turned to walk the other way, and she met the others eyes. They were two of the girls she met at the study group she and Kimi joined before coming back to school. "What's awesome?"

"Just being here," the girl replied, a smile on her face. "High school is so much different than middle school."

"Although Natsuki and I just got here, so we really only have the impression of walking through the front doors," the other girl with strawberry blonde hair said. "But it's still pretty awesome."

"Yeah it was like that for me too." Kimi agreed almost immediately.

Karin's eyes focused more on her new strawberry blonde friend. "Sara, we're matching right now."

"Oh yeah, the purple tops, jean shorts, and white converse shoes," Sara said, as she handed over her phone to Kimi. "Kimi will you take our picture?"

As Karin and Sara go their picture taken by Kimi, Natsuki leaned against a locker nearby. "Where's everyone else?"

"Well, according to our group chat, everyone is still on their way," Kimi replied, finishing up with the picture taking, as she handed Sara's phone back over to her. "School doesn't technically start for another ten minutes, and that's only homeroom. It's like another fifteen or so minutes before first period really starts."

"Those are good," Karin approved of the pictures on Sara's phone. "Once we get to homeroom, we can decide which pictures to post on our Instagrams."

"Sounds good to me." Sara agreed, as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Karin closed her locker door, and pulled her bag back on her back. "Let's go. First day of high school is officially starting."

 **The art room**

Sitting down on the stool, Yuzu smiled at the blank canvas in front of her. It was full of opportunities, and she had waves of inspiration flowing through her these days. She had got to school early to check out the space. She had met the art teacher for the high school at the art gala a few months ago, and she let her into the room early.

"Are you working already?"

Smiling at the sound of Taro's voice, Yuzu turned around on the stool, and her eyes met his. "More like visualizing."

"Well I hate to interrupt." Taro said, however that didn't stop him from walking over to her. His hands going to her sides, as he leaned his head down to kiss her.

"Whoa slow down." Yuzu said as she stopped their kiss, a hand going to rest on his chest.

A half-smile appeared on Taro's face. "Sorry, it's just that I have missed you. It was almost two months since we really talked."

"I explained where I was coming from remember?"

"Yeah and I understand," Taro replied, as he caressed her cheek. "From now on, if anything ever bothers you, I want you to know that you can just talk to me."

Yuzu nodded once. "I just didn't want to hurt your feelings."

"I'd rather you be honest with me," Taro said, then he shrugged. "Besides, I think we both kind of knew we shouldn't have done what we did... Even though it's not like I didn't want to."

"Shhh." Yuzu quickly shushed, as she lightly smacked his arm as some students had walked by the door. Smiling at his laughter, Yuzu crossed her arms. "Taro."

"Sorry," Taro chuckled, as he caressed her cheek again. "It's unfortunate that we don't have any classes together."

"At least we get to see each other at lunch." Yuzu pointed out, her smile widening.

"And sometimes in the hall-"

Someone clearing their throat interrupted Taro, and they both turned to see Hinata standing in the doorway.

"Oh, is this happening again?"

"Hinata!" Yuzu exclaimed at Hinata's motion to the two of them. Her eyes went to Taro. "I'll see you at lunch."

Taro nodded once, and started to the door. "I'll be there."

After Taro left, Hinata walked closer, and raised an eyebrow. "Are you two dating again?" At Yuzu's silence, Hinata propped a hand on her hip. "Yuzu?"

"I don't know. Maybe," Yuzu sighed heavily. "We never really talked about it... Plus we were never really officially "dating" before either."

"What about Kat?" Hinata asked rather quickly, as she pulled another stool over to sit on.

"I don't know... I mean I was obviously attracted to her, and that's why I kissed her."

"Well what are you going to do? Date them both?"

"I don't think so," Yuzu replied with a shrug. "Yes, I was attracted to Kat, but I'm attracted to Taro too. The only difference is that with Taro... It's just... I think I want to see where things go with him."

"Are you going to tell him about Kat?" Hinata asked, then she waved her hand. "Not like you have to or anything. You two weren't officially dating after all."

"I know, but I think I might want to tell him." Yuzu replied, her eyes going to the hall when the bell rang. "We've got to go to first period."

"It's technically homeroom." Hinata said, as they both got up to leave the art room.

Yuzu shrugged as they moved to the staircase. The art room was on the fourth floor, along with a lot of the other elective type classes and a handful of senior classes. "I guess. It's in the same classroom, with the same people as first period."

"That's true," Hinata agreed, as they kept going down the stairs. "It kind of sucks that we have literature as our first class of the day. I don't think starting off my day reading stories is a great way to keep me from going to sleep."

"Tell me about it." Yuzu said as they reached the first floor.

"Isn't your sister in this class with us?"

Yuzu rolled her eyes at the thought. "Let's not talk about my sister."

That brought a smirk to Hinata's face. "Are you two still at each others throats?"

"Not really, but I did have to listen to her begging for a cat again while I was trying to eat this morning. It's really starting to get on my nerves." Yuzu said, as they walked into the class. Her eyes moved back to where Karin was already in the room. She was seated in a desk by the windows more towards the middle-back of the room. Surrounded by five or six others who she was talking with.

Crossing her arms over her chest, Hinata raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said that she was more of a loner type."

"She was, then apparently she did a complete personality change over the Summer. Kind of like me, except she got more positive and I got more-"

"Realistic," Hinata interrupted, offering Yuzu a smile. "It's okay not to be happy all the time. We're at the time of change. We're moody teenagers. That's normal."

Yuzu nodded in agreement, then they moved to join Shin and Yukio who were on the side of the room closer to the door in the more front of the class.

Yukio was the first to send them a grin, as his eyes focused more on Hinata. "I was wondering where you were."

"Good morning Yuzu." Shin greeted, as the two girls sat down. A smirk on his face at the sight of Yukio and Hinata sending each other flirty looks.

"Morning," Yuzu greeted, as she dropped her bag down next to her desk. "Where's Suki? Isn't she supposed to be in this class with us?"

"Unfortunately no," Shin replied with a sigh. "She won't be in my third period either, but at least we have the rest of our classes together."

"It's so nice finally being able to call Suki your girlfriend," Hinata cut in, a smile on her face. "It took you long enough to ask her."

Yukio laughed in agreement. "I know right."

"And what about you two?" Shin countered, an eyebrow raised. His smirk returning to his face at their silence. "Wow that silence really says a lot, right Yuzu?"

Nodding her head, Yuzu's eyes went back over to the other side of the room where Karin was when she heard her laughing. Forcing herself to look back to her friends, she sighed and propped her chin on her hand. "I usually love the idea of starting a new school year, but I just don't want to be here."

"I think the fun aspect of going back to school gets lost once you get used to having so much freedom in the Summer," Hinata said, flicking her hair over her shoulder, after Yukio had reached over to mess with it. "Well the freedom to wake up whenever we want, and staying out to three a.m."

"Technically we were sneaking out until three a.m." Shin reminded, his eyes moving up to the front of the room when their teacher walked in the room.

Yuzu sighed at the thought. "That's true. Even then my Summer curfew was eleven, and now it's back to ten since I have school."

"Well I hate to break it to you, we're about to be put through an entire school year of this starting in about five minutes," Yukio said, motioning to the teacher up front. "Say goodbye to freedom now."

 _Goodbye..._ Yuzu's phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out.

 _Taro: I'm missing you right now. My first class isn't looking too interesting, and it hasn't even started yet._

Yuzu smiled at that, as she quickly typed back. _I miss you too. You can make it._ Turning her phone on silent, she dropped her phone in her bag, and focused up front when the teacher started to get their attention.

 **A few hours later, Lunch**

Sitting out on the dock at the lake towards the back of the school, Yuzu took in a deep breath, and let her eyes go to Taro. She just shared what happened with Kat a few weeks ago, and he hadn't yet said a thing to her.

"Hmm..." Taro hummed, his eyes finally going over to meet her, his usual lopsided grin on his face. "I wish I could have been there to watch."

"Taro!" Yuzu exclaimed, unable to keep from laughing a little. "You aren't upset?"

"To be fair, we weren't official or anything Yuzu."

"I know that, but I still wanted to tell you."

"I appreciate that," Taro said, then he waved a hand. "And if your into girls, that's fine. Don't feel pressured by me to go the other direction."

Yuzu was quiet for a moment, then she rested her hands back on the dock and leaned back a little. "I honestly don't know for sure. It's not like I have experience dating guys and girls, but all I do know is that I find you attractive and I found Kat attractive. I don't have regrets kissing Kat, and I don't regret kissing you. I know that I didn't have to tell you about Kat, but I wanted to. Because before what happened the last night of the program, what we had was amazing. I loved spending all that time with you."

That brought a smile to Taro's face, as reached over and took her hand. "About us not being official... I was wondering if you wanted to consider going out on a date with me. Like an actual date."

Yuzu met his eyes, and matched his smile. "I'd like that."

"I have to work pretty much every day after school this week, but I'm free Friday night-" Taro broke off as the five-minute bell rang for them to head to their fourth period. He stood up, and held a hand out for her.

"Friday night would be great," Yuzu took his hand, and stood up. They started in the direction of the school, and she focused over on him. "You have a job?"

Taro nodded slowly. "Yeah, the electronics store a block down from Rocky's. I just got hired last week."

"Ah..." Yuzu trailed off, then a grin grew on her face. "Do you have to wear that bright yellow shirt with the khaki pants?"

Noticing the teasing note in her tone, Taro nudged her shoulder. "I'll have you know, I look great in yellow... The khaki pants aren't really my style though."

They both laughed, as they reached the back doors of the school. Just in time for Hinata to walk out. "Come on Yuzu, we have P.E, and the athletics building is in the other direction."

"Right," Yuzu said, turning to face Taro as she smiled. "Call me later when you get off work."

"Will do." Taro replied, as he tilted his head down to kiss her.

When they broke apart, Yuzu's smile grew as she watched him walk inside the school, and she and Hinata started in the direction of the athletics building.

Hinata's eyes were glued to Yuzu. "So that's really actually happening now? Now just flirting with the idea anymore?"

Shrugging at the thought, Yuzu smiled, and looked up at the sky. "I guess it might be turning into something... I told him about basically went like you predicted. He said we weren't official or anything-"

"But are you now?" Hinata interrupted, getting Yuzu to look at her again. "I mean you did just openly kiss him in front of me. At school."

"No we're not official," Yuzu said, her smile widening. "But he did ask to take me out on a date. Like a real one."

"When?"

"Friday night..." Yuzu trailed off, then laughed. "It feels so good."

Noticing how happy Yuzu was, Hinata reached over and looped her arm through her friends. "Well I'm happy for you. I hope it does become official. I've been rooting for you two from the beginning."

Raising an eyebrow, Yuzu glanced in Hinata's direction. "Really? Because when I first kissed Kat you seemed a hundred percent okay with the idea of me and her."

"Obviously if you wanted to date Kat, then I would be incredibly happy for you too. But I mean, you and Taro, I saw that from the very beginning. You two have something." Hinata replied, a twinkle in her eye. "Kind of like how Yukio and I have something, except according to Shin, we're taking it super slow. But honestly, it works for us."

"Whatever works," Yuzu said, then a new thought popped in her mind. "Oh yeah, I haven't had a chance to tell you this privately yet, but I think Karin knows that I'm talking to Taro again."

"How?" Hinata countered, pulling Yuzu to a stop. "It's not like you've been bringing him over to your house or anything."

"I don't know. I mean, she just made this comment this morning after breakfast that seemed a little pointed. I mean I did meet up with Taro at the mall on Saturday. It was after you and I got our hair done, and your mom picked you up early. I think Karin got her hair done the same day, but had a later appointment. It's possible she could have seen Taro and I, but she didn't say anything so I don't know."

"You could just be over-analyzing," Hinata offered with a shrug. "I mean, what are the chances of that happening? Were you even near the hair salon?"

"No, we were at the food court, but that doesn't mean-"

Hinata laughing interrupted Yuzu, and they started back walking to the athletics building. "I think you're reaching here. I wouldn't worry about it until there is something to worry about for sure. I bet your sister just seemed to be pointing at something only because you were probably arguing."

"It's possible," Yuzu said, then the one-minute warning bell was heard. "We better go! Shin and Yukio are probably wondering where we are."

 **Later that evening, nine p.m.**

Slipping the straps of her bag over her shoulder, Karin said goodbye to her boss, and started towards the door. Almost as soon as she got out of school at three thirty that day she jogged over to work and spent five hours there. Walking out into the parking lot, she smiled when she saw Toshiro's car. Quicking her speed, she walked over to the passenger's side, and opened the door. "Hey."

"Hey," Toshiro greeted her back, reaching over to take her bag and put it in the back seat. "How was work?"

"Busy. Apparently, now that everyone's getting off of Summer vacation they all of a sudden want to go back to the gym," Karin replied, leaning over to kiss Toshiro, then she started to put on her seat belt. "Then school was a completely different story. At least it was more enjoyable than work."

Toshiro waited for her to put her seatbelt on, then he started to reverse the car out of the spot. "Well how about we talk about that stuff, but while eating dinner?"

Sighing at the thought, Karin smiled. "I'd love that, but my dad has my curfew at ten now that I'm back in school. I don't know if we really have time to have a sit-down kind of dinner, and make it back to my house by ten."

"Of course not," Toshiro started, as he drove out of the gym's parking lot. "I was thinking more like getting Rocky's to-go, then we can go back to your house. I'm sure your dad wouldn't mind if we were at your house by the time your curfew rolls around."

That brought a slight frown to Karin's face. "That's true... Do you mind having dinner there? I know it sucks that I have a curfew and all, but I don't want you to feel like we have to go eat over there."

"I don't mind Karin. I was the one who suggested it after all," Toshiro said, as he slowed the car to a stop at a red light. He grabbed his phone, as his eyes went to her. "I'll cal in the order. Do you want the usual? Burger, fries, milkshake?"

Karin nodded back at him, and waited until after he called their order in to speak. "How was your day?"

Toshiro chuckled, as he turned down the road that would eventually get them to Rocky's. "Probably not as eventful as yours. I had to finish some paperwork for my division, and send that off the Soul Society. That took a couple hours- oh, and I also took a very long nap this afternoon."

Grinning at that last part, Karin let her head rest back on the headrest. "I'm jealous."

"You should be; it was a great nap," Toshiro replied, chuckling with her. "Now back to you. How was your day?"

"Well, I like all my teachers. Ichigo told me that a couple of my teachers were going to be bad, but they seemed nice to me," Karin said, her eyes going down to her phone where she texted her dad that she got off work. "Then that work-based learning class I have in seventh period was interesting. It's purpose is so I don't technically have a seventh period, and can just go to work after sixth period. But we had an orientation type class today, and apparently every Monday for this first semester we have to have meetings at the school. It just seems like a waste of time."

"They probably just want to make sure you are telling the truth about having a job." Toshiro pointed out, his eyes glancing to her when they stopped at a stop sign.

Karin shrugged, as her mind started turning to a different subject. "I guess... That guy Yuzu is with was in the orientation too. I guess he has a job."

"Would it be too much to just call him her boyfriend?" Toshiro asked, an eyebrow raised. "It's hard to keep up when you call him 'that guy'."

"Because I don't know if he is her boyfriend," Karin said, her arms crossing over her chest. "Would you rather me say the guy that she lost her virginity to that caused her to go into a downward spiral and become a moody less fun Yuzu?"

Toshiro chuckled at that. "Karin."

"What? It's not a lie," Karin countered, as she shrugged again. "I really don't think I'm supposed to know that they are talking to each other again. I saw them at the food court on the way to my hair appointment on Saturday. It's not like Yuzu said anything about him to me... So I don't really think we should talk about it to anyone."

"Who would I talk to that would-"

"Um your best friend, and mine and Yuzu's future sister-in-law." Karin interrupted, a smirk on his face at how he shook his head.

"I won't say anything to Orihime. I'm sure she'd tell Ichigo, and I don't think that'll go over well."

"I mean it's all speculation anyways, I don't have any actual proof that Yuzu is seeing that guy or anything..." Karin trailed off, as Toshiro turned into the Rocky's parking lot. "Anyway, Kimi is in all my classes, including work-based learning even though she doesn't have a job yet. All she has to do is find one before the end of the week, or they are going to make her switch to another class."

Toshiro parked the car, and looked over to her. "Why don't you see if she can get a job at the gym with you? That way you won't have to work as much, and you might have more time for training sessions and other activities outside of work and school."

"Like seeing you," Karin said, smiling as she leaned over to kiss him. When their kiss broke, she leaned back against her seat again. "I think that might actually work. My boss would go for it. She already thinks that I'm working too many hours to also be a full time student as well."

Toshiro unbuckled his seatbelt, and brought his hand to the door. "I'm going to go pick up our food."

"Okay, I'm going to call Kimi real quick."

"Well I guess it's a good time for me to be getting out of the car then." Toshiro replied, smirking as he opened the door and got out.

"Ha ha." Karin shot back, smiling as she dialed Kimi's number. _Today was a_ _pretty good day. I think this is going to be a great school year._

* * *

 **A/N: I really enjoyed writing this chapter of Yuzu and Karin starting a new chapter of their lives. Finally going to high school. Both girls seem rather happy in their separate lives, but when it comes to each other, there still seems to be tension. What could be the root problem that's causing this tension? Or is it just them being moody teenagers? What was your favorite scene?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**

 **Also be sure to check out my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot .com (no spaces)**


	11. Friday Night Football

_Review:_

 _Toshiro unbuckled his seatbelt, and brought his hand to the door. "I'm going to go pick up our food."_

 _"Okay, I'm going to call Kimi real quick."_

 _"Well I guess it's a good time for me to be getting out of the car then." Toshiro replied, smirking as he opened the door and got out._

 _"Ha ha." Karin shot back, smiling as she dialed Kimi's number. Today was a pretty good day. I think this is going to be a great school year._

* * *

 **Two and a half weeks later, Thursday, September 15th**

Letting her power engulf her hand, Karin started running full speed at Akira. They got close to a boulder that left Akira slightly cornered, but she managed to get out of the way last second. Just narrowly having missed Karin's hand that would have made contact with her shoulder. Instead, Karin's fist made contact with the boulder, and it broke off a few pieces.

Karin didn't skip a beat, and turned around. Jumping to the side as Akira came at her with a real katana now. Taking the role of defense for a moment, she kept backing off the many rocks around them, and finally summoning her power back to her hands, she began to form a ball as she took off again. This time instead of taking another turn as she got closer to a rock, she turned around to face Akira and pushed her power out in an almost shield.

It was enough to push Akira back, but her real katana quickly broke through Karin's shield. However, Karin had used the pause to create a katana once again, and blocked Akira's real katana from hitting her. Feeling her back pressed against the rock behind her, she gritted her teeth, and quickly dissolved her katana and grabbed Akira's arm and twisted so she could make Akira drop the katana.

It was silent as Karin took some deep breaths, and Akira grinned at her. "Damn, that was much better. You seem to have your powers back under control."

Karin relaxed as Akira signaled the spar was over. "I feel like my life just flashed before my eyes."

"Well you disabled me much faster this time-"

"I'm dying."

Akira laughed at Karin's interrupt, as she grabbed some water and glanced at her watch. "We need to wrap it up here. I have to get back to my apartment and grab some dinner… You coming?"

"I'm just going to lie here for a few more minutes..." Karin trailed off, her eyes watching Akira as she walked up the stairs, then her eyes went to the sky. They were using the training space under Urahara's shop, as Karin's powers were becoming a little destructive for the training space in the forest. Even though the space they were in was artificial it still felt like she was really outside. As she looked up to the sky, her vision started to waver.

 _Walking up concrete steps. Looking forward to the door, she raised an eyebrow at the tall double oak doors in front of her. On each of the doors there was a colorful window with full trees on them._

 _This time she was familiar with the scene, and she turned around to the endless white room. Turning back around to face the concrete steps and the double oak doors. She took a step towards them. Reaching out, she attempted to open the doors to find they wouldn't budge. Beginning to feel frustrated, she continued trying to push on the doors, but they remained sealed shut._

Opening her eyes, she was back in the training space at Urahara's, and she raised an eyebrow. _I finally got my powers back under control, but then to still have that vision… Maybe it just means_ _that_ _it is something important._

 **Upstairs**

"The assignment went smoothly," Ichigo started, picking up Mina out of her carrier, and smiling down at his daughter. "I've been gone since Sunday evening, and it's nice to be back."

"It's been so quiet here," Orihime said, a smile on her face, as she shared a look with Yoruichi. "With you, Toshiro, Renji, Rangiku, and Rukia gone, it was-"

"Blissful." Yoruichi offered, chuckling along with Urahara.

"I was going to say lonely, but I did get more training done in peace I guess." Orihime said, smiling at how that made Rukia stick out her tongue in her direction.

Isshin clearing his throat was heard, as he got his son's attention. "It's good to have you back, but it was nice being able to spend more time with my granddaughter this week."

That brought a smirk to Ichigo's face. "Did anyone miss me? Because it doesn't really sound like it… Hey Yuzu, what about you?"

Yuzu, who just walked in from outside, froze in her spot. Her phone in hands. "What about me?"

"Did you miss me?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Yuzu moved to lean back against the wall, as she looked down at her phone. "I mean, I guess so. It's not like you live in the house anymore, so it's not like it's really noticeable that you left."

While that brought laughter from the others, Ichigo rolled his eyes and smirked. "Thanks a lot."

The door opening from the back of the room was heard, and Akira walked in. Drinking from her water bottle.

"Damn," Rukia started, raising an eyebrow at Akira. "You look like you just ran a marathon."

"I actually feel more like I was chased a whole marathon." Akira shot back, a smirk appearing on her face.

Orihime offered Akira a smile. "How did Karin's training session go?"

"Well she seems to be back on track. I guess it helps that we're having a more regular training schedule figured out," Akira replied, then she grinned. "She actually almost took my arm off today."

"You seem so happy about that." Renji commented, then he flinched when Rukia punched his shoulder. A smirk appearing on his face at the small smile that was on Rukia's.

"Well Karin's been working on managing her powers more at home," Isshin said, bringing attention back to the conversation. "We're lucky we got that privacy fence put up in our backyard over the summer, or else our neighbors would have some questions."

Ichigo's eyebrow raised. "I want to spar her."

Surprisingly Toshiro was the one to chuckle and catch Ichigo's attention. "I don't see that going well. I feel like if you two ever sparred, half the town would get blown up."

That made the others laugh, even Ichigo couldn't help but chuckle. "Speaking of Karin, where-"

Karin walking in the room interrupted Ichigo, and her eyes met his. "Oh. You're back."

At her lack of enthusiasm, Ichigo sighed. "Nice to see you too."

Toshiro, who had stood up at the sight of Karin, smiled and reached over to her.

"Whoa," Karin said, putting a hand to his chest to keep him from hugging her. "I'm really happy to see you and all, but I'm all sweaty and gross."

"I don't care," Toshiro replied as he took the hand that she had on his chest, and he kissed her once. "So what did I miss?"

"Well I almost died in training a few minutes ago."

While that made the others laugh, Akira rolled her eyes. "You did not. Get some rest tonight, and take it easy this weekend. I'll see you next week."

After Akira left, some of the shinigami left to go downstairs and get a little training in. Isshin took that opportunity to meet Karin's eyes. "Are you still going to the football game tomorrow?"

"You've got to be kidding," Ichigo spoke before Karin could, getting her focus. "Since when are you into football?"

"I'm not really, but Kimi and some of our friends are. I figured I might give it a chance. Who knows?" Karin countered, her eyes switching to Yuzu when she heard her sister scoff. "What?"

Gaining a sarcastic smile on her face, Yuzu shrugged. "Is this going to be your new thing now? Hanging out with a bunch of the popular kids and following them around?"

Karin smirked back at her sister. "How does being social and making friends sound like such a bad thing coming from you-"

"Girls," Isshin interrupted, shaking his head at their glaring at each other. "If you both want to go tomorrow, you're going to have to practice being nice to each other more often."

While that didn't stop Karin and Yuzu from glaring each other, Ichigo started chuckling. "Wait, so Yuzu's going too now?"

Karin finally broke her glare to laugh. "I know right? While I'm going to actually watch the game, Yuzu's going to flirt with some guy-"

"Karin!" Yuzu snapped, her eyes darkening.

"Oops," Karin said, offering her sister a smirk before she walked towards the door. "I'll see you all at home. I need a shower ASAP."

As Toshiro got up and followed Karin outside, Yuzu's eyes went to where her dad, Ichigo, and Orihime were looking at her. "It's no one alright? I don't want to talk about it. Can we leave now?"

Isshin shook his head, as he got up to towards the hall where Urahara had gone down when everyone else left. "I have to talk to Urahara about some things."

"Great, I'll wait outside!" Yuzu exclaimed quickly, as she turned to go out to the front of the shop.

As soon as Yuzu and Isshin left the room, Ichigo chuckled as he passed Mina back over to Orihime. "That was hostile."

"It's been like that," Orihime said, rocking Mina a little as she grabbed her nursing cover out of Mina's diaper bag. Knowing she was a little fussy from being hungry. "You missed a few screaming matches earlier this week."

Ichigo shrugged, watching Orihime put the nursing cover on over her, before starting to nurse Mina. "I don't know, I find it kind of interesting that they fight all the time now, and seeing Yuzu fight back with Karin is a new thing."

"They'll grow out of it eventually… Well they probably will," Orihime adjusted Mina a little, then she sighed. "It might take longer than a few minutes for Mina to get enough. Maybe you should tell your dad that he can take his time."

Nodding back at her, Ichigo stood up. "On it. Then we can go home and get some dinner."

 **Karin and Toshiro**

"Weren't you and your sister getting back to normal before I left?"

"A lot can happen in a week," Karin replied, as she sighed. Toshiro was driving her home, and it was a heck of a lot better than walking. "Well you were only gone on assignment since Sunday evening, but we didn't really see each other over the last weekend since I was busy. So it was basically forever, right?"

"Forever sounds about right," Toshiro agreed, laughing along with her. When they slowed to a stop at a red light, he looked over to her. "So what's this about a football game tomorrow?"

Setting her phone down, Karin propped her elbow on the car door, and shrugged. "My friends want to go, and Kimi had to practically beg me to give it a shot… She even wants us to go all out, body paint and everything."

"Oh well there has to be picture proof of this then."

"We'll see," Karin said, smiling as Toshiro laughed. "Do you want to go? I know you're not in high school and might not really be interested, but it could be fun… Although, I can't say for sure or not, because I don't know if even I am going to have fun."

Toshiro was quiet for a moment, then finally nodded. "Sure. I actually like football."

"Really?" Karin asked, and when he nodded again she smiled. "I just didn't picture you as a sports person."

"Well I am not into many sports. I like football and soccer, for obvious reasons," Toshiro paused to send a grin Karin's way. "Even if I didn't like football, I would still like to go, and spend some time with you. I haven't seen you in forever remember?"

"Right," Karin agreed as Toshiro pulled into her driveway. She took off her seat belt off, and turned in her seat to kiss him. When they broke apart, she smiled. "Want to stay for dinner? We haven't cooked anything, but I would rather have pizza. I haven't had anything since lunch, and it was school lunch so it wasn't that great."

"Well you did just have an intense training with Akira too," Toshiro said, then he grabbed her hand. "How about you go take your shower and relax, and I go pick up the pizza?"

"That would make you a really amazing boyfriend," Karin replied, leaning over to kiss him again. "I'll call and order the pizza, then call and tell my dad not to pick anything up on the way home."

 **The next evening**

"Thank you. I could have bought those. I was the one who invited you after all." Karin said, smiling at Toshiro as they left the ticket booth outside the football stadium. The game is supposed to start in about fifteen minutes.

"That's alright, I wanted to." Toshiro smiled back at her, as they walked towards the entrance.

"Hey babe!" Kimi called over towards Karin, before motioning for Karin and Toshiro to come over to where she and some of their friends were.

As soon as they got over to the others, Sara immediately was eying Karin. "Wow, you and Kimi went all out on the body art."

"Was that Kimi's idea?" Natsuki asked, also admiring the body paint that both Karin and Kimi had applied. It wasn't full body paint, just designs painted on with the school's colors.

"Of course it was," Karin replied, as she motioned to herself. "Do you think I would have done this to myself on purpose?"

"It's called school spirit Karin," Kimi said, as she hooked her arm through Karin's. "Come and take a picture with me. Sara?"

Sara took Kimi's phone, and motioned over to the football field. "Yeah, but move over so I can get the football field in the background."

While they were taking pictures, Natsuki focused on Toshiro. "It's nice to see you again Toshiro."

"You as well." Toshiro replied with a nod, his eyes going to the others.

"Oh yeah, you probably haven't been introduced to them yet," Natsuki started, as she motioned first to the black haired guy next to her. "This is my boyfriend, Kohaku. Then they are Shino and Kura."

"It's nice to meet you." Toshiro greeted, shaking Kohaku's and Shino's hand, and nodding in Kura's direction.

Natsuki glanced around them. "I don't know where everyone else is, but I'm sure we'll run into them soon."

"So Toshiro," Kura started, her eyes studying him. "Karin says you're out of high school and have a job-"

"Yeah he works in the government," Kimi interrupted, as she, Karin, and Sara rejoined them. "Secret agent actually."

"Would you stop telling people that?" Karin asked, her eyes rolling at Kimi's smirk.

Sara motioned to the bleachers. "Let's go get some seats. I think the others are going to meet up with us in a few minutes."

As everyone started towards the bleachers, Toshiro reached over and took Karin's hand, as they fell a little behind from the others. "Secret agent?"

Karin shrugged, as she smiled at him. "Back during my music program, I had to tell Kimi something. So I just stuck with a government job. She made up the secret agent part."

"It's alright, I'll take it. Secret agent sounds much cooler." Toshiro replied, laughing along with Karin as they took the steps of the bleachers.

 **Almost an hour later**

Yuzu let her head rest back against the brick wall behind her, as her eyes moved around her friends. They were hanging out under the bleachers, and she was pretty sure that they were somewhere in the second quarter. At least that's what she thought Shin said. _It's nice hanging out with everyone_ _outside of our usual routine of school or sneaking out in the middle of the night to hang out._

"I thought you were into sports Yukio." One of Taro's friends, Jax, said.

"I do like a lot of sports," Yukio nodded, as he was looking down at his phone. "Football just never really caught my interest."

"I actually like football, and I'm probably going to go watch the game for a while. I'll meet up with you all in a while," Shin said, as he stood up. His eyes going to his girlfriend. "Suki, do you want to go with me?"

Suki nodded, and joined him in standing up. "Sure."

As soon as they left, Hinata leaned over to Yuzu. "What do you think about Suki? She seems pretty quiet."

"As long as she makes Shin happy, that's all that matters, right?" Yuzu countered, as her eyes focused on Taro who was walking over to them from the concession stand with some of their friends. "I was wondering when I'd see you again."

"The line was a bit longer than we thought," Taro started, as he handed her a pack of the blue sour straws. "The candy you requested."

"Thank you," Yuzu smiled at Taro, as he sat down next to her. _I kind of miss the fact that we aren't going on a date tonight. The past two Fridays ended up being our date night, and it's been nice. I know we still spend time together on other nights, but it is kind of nice to just go on a date._ Shaking her head out of her thoughts, she opened her candy straws, and took a bite out of them. Her eyes went to Taro. "We can go watch the game if you want."

Taro wrapped an arm loosely around her shoulders. "Nah I'm good here. Football is more interesting when it's college or national level. Not a bunch of high school kids not really knowing what they are doing."

"So if this was a college or national level game-"

"We'd be in the stands, decked out in the teams colors, and hollering at the top of our lungs." Taro interrupted, then they both laughed.

After her laughter settled, Yuzu smiled big. "I guess I've never really been into sports… Maybe we can go to a game together sometime, and you can show me what's so interesting about it."

"Yeah absolutely," Taro said, a grin starting at the sight of her. "That candy is turning your lips a little blue."

"Really?" Yuzu countered, bringing a hand up to her face.

Moving her hand away from her mouth, Taro leaned over and kissed her. When their kiss broke, they both smiled. "You taste a little sour sweet too. I like it."

Feeling a little flutter in her chest, Yuzu's smile widened, as she snuggled a little into him.

 **Halftime**

"Football isn't as boring as I thought." Karin said, as she leaned back against the brick wall by the concession stand.

"I knew you'd come around," Toshiro started, pausing to grab the fried oreos that Karin had ordered from the concession stand. "Here you go, your order of basically pure sugar."

"Haha," Karin said, accepting the basket, as she picked one of the fried oreos up. After taking a bite, powdered sugar went almost everywhere, but it was worth it. "Oh my god, this is amazing. You should try one."

Chuckling, Toshiro used a napkin to wipe some of the powdered sugar from her face. "I'm not sure I want to be covered in all of that powdered sugar."

Karin picked another one up, and held it over to him. "Come on. It's really good."

"Okay, I'll try one, but that's it," Toshiro said, taking the fried oreo from her, then he took a bite. Taking a moment to chew and swallow the bite, he finally smiled. "I have to say that was really good."

Karin grinned and stepped a little closer to him. "You've got a little-powdered sugar on your face..." she trailed off, then she kissed him a few times. "Are you having a good time?"

"Right now?" Toshiro countered, as he kissed her this time. "Yes, I am having a good time right now."

"You know what I meant." Karin replied, as she laughed along with him.

"I am having a good time. Your friends are nice. Although I have to say I probably only remember about half their names."

"Well, I guess that's a good thing." Karin said as they started to walk to the stairs to go back onto the bleachers.

When they arrived back to the others, Kimi was the first to look over to them as they sat down. "How are the fried oreos?"

Karin grinned back at Kimi. "They are actually amazing, and definitely worth it."

Their attention went back to the field as they bell rang off signaling the start of the third quarter. Toshiro slipped his arm around Karin, and moved her a little closer.

 **Later that night, around 11:15 p.m.**

Smiling when their kiss broke, Karin met Toshiro's eyes. "Thanks for coming with me tonight."

"I had a good time," Toshiro replied, then he kissed her again. When their kiss broke, he brought a hand up to push her bangs back. "It was nice spending the evening with you. I have been gone on the mission for the past four days, and before that you were working and training last weekend, I only got to see you briefly Sunday afternoon on your lunch break at work, so it feels like it's been over a week since we've really got to spend time together."

"I know. Speaking of how we really haven't got to see each other this past week, I have a proposition for you," Karin started, her hand reaching up to take one of his. "I have to work tomorrow until two p.m., but if you want, we can spend the rest of the day together. Maybe even the night too?"

"I'd like that," Toshiro agreed, then he kissed her again. This time when they broke apart, he wrapped an arm around her, and held her for a moment before letting her go. "Goodnight."

"Night." Karin replied, then she got out of the car. Walking up to her porch, she paused to look back and watch Toshiro back out of the driveway. A smile formed on her face after he left, and she walked inside. She was greeted with the sight of her dad on the recliner chair, and watched a movie on TV. When their eyes met, she felt a little anxiety. "I know my curfew is normally ten, and you said that I could stay out until eleven so I could grab some food with my friends. I know I'm a little late, but it took a little longer to get our food at Rocky's. They were pretty busy after the game ended-"

"Karin, it's alright," Isshin interrupted, pausing the movie, and meeting her eyes. "You texted me after the game ended at ten, and told me you and Toshiro were going with your friends to get food. I figured it'd be busy after the game. You even texted me of that fact about thirty minutes ago in case you forgot."

Smiling at that, Karin leaned on the arm of the couch closer to the stairs. "I didn't forget. When I came in, I just felt like I had to explain for being fifteen minutes late for some reason. I guess the whole honesty thing and all that."

That had them both laughing a little, and Isshin's eyes glanced to the door. "Toshiro didn't want to come inside for a few minutes?"

"Well he has an early morning tomorrow. He has a lot of paperwork to do relating to the assignment he was on with Ichigo and the others this past week, and he held off finishing that so he could spend time with me today..." Karin trailed off, as a smile grew on her face at the thought. Her eyes glanced over to see the shoes Yuzu had been wearing that night at the game by the door. "Yuzu's home already? I didn't see her after the game ended."

"She got home about half an hour ago," Isshin nodded, as he motioned to the stairs. "She's already upstairs in bed."

Karin stood up from where she was leaning on the couch. "Well that's probably where I need to be too. I have tomorrow morning, and I need to get some kind of sleep."

"I'm going to finish this movie first, then I'll probably head upstairs as well. Goodnight."

"Night dad." Karin replied, before she went upstairs to her room. After kicking off her shoes in her closet, she grabbed a shirt and underwear for bed, but paused to look at herself in the mirror. A lot of the body paint was still there. They had the schools colors of gold and red, and painted some designs on their arms and legs. _I can't believe it lasted throughout the football game._

Leaving her room, Karin stopped at the doorway. Her eyes moving to the right. Much further down the hall was her father's bedroom, and off a smaller hall was where Yuzu's bedroom was. Walking over, she turned down the small hall, and stopped outside Yuzu's bedroom door. Standing at the closed door for a long moment, she finally knocked on it. Hearing no answer, she knocked again. After not hearing anything again, she opened the door, and looked around the dark room. Finally realizing that Yuzu was nowhere to be found, she rolled her eyes and shut the door. Starting back down the main hall to her bathroom, she shook her head. "Going to bed early my ass."

 **Just after midnight**

Sitting back down at the table that everyone else was sitting around, Yuzu sipped her refilled cup of beer. "I'm getting really good of sneaking out of my house. After I climbed out my window, I walked around to the front of the house, and peeked in the front window. My dad was still just sitting in the living room."

"You should have just told your dad you were spending the night at my house, so that way you wouldn't have even had to go home from the game." Hinata replied, leaning back on the chair she was on.

Yuzu shrugged, and took another sip of her beer. "Yeah well, I want my dad to see me spending time at home tomorrow morning/afternoon, so that way he won't question me when I go out tomorrow evening."

"Date with Taro?"

"Yeah, I'm going to tell my dad that I'm meeting you all at a small little art show my the art studio is having for some of the classes," Yuzu replied, as she smiled. "That way I don't have to explain while I'll be a little more dressed up than usual."

"Back to sneaking out tonight. Didn't you say that your sister knows that you have been sneaking out? What if she went to check on you in your room whenever she got home from the game."

Yuzu shrugged back at Hinata. "I doubt she will. We practically live on different planets now… Even if she did go into my room to check on me, she's not going to tell my dad. As long as I can keep from pissing her off too much."

While that made Hinata and Yuzu laugh, the poker game their friends were playing came to an end, and Yukio looked over to them. "You two want to play again?"

"Sure." Hinata said, shuffling so she was sitting a little closer to the table.

"Actually," Yuzu started, as her eyes went to Taro. "Do you want to go outside for a bit? It's starting to get kind of loud in here."

"Sounds good to me." Taro agreed, standing up and offering her a hand.

Accepting his hand, once Yuzu was standing up she wavered a bit, but caught her balance and they left the room to go downstairs. Maneuvering past the many other people, they left to go outside, and stopped once out by his car. Sitting up on the trunk of the car, Yuzu sighed, as she looked up at the night sky. The fresh air seeming to hit her in the face, and it felt refreshing. They sat out there for almost five minutes in silence, before Taro sighed.

"It's been a nice night. Even though I'm not really into high school football, it wasn't too bad."

Yuzu drank a few more sips of beer, and shrugged. "I guess. I had more fun avoiding watching the game, and sneaking out of my house to come to this party."

Taro offered her a smirk at her finishing off her beer. "I can tell."

Laughing lightly, Yuzu set the empty cup down, then she leaned over and kissed him.

Kissing Yuzu back, Taro let himself enjoy the moment for a few minutes, then he finally had to pull back away from her. "We've got to cool it down a little bit."

"I know..." Yuzu trailed off, sighing with disappointment. "I think I've had a little bit too much to drink. Sometimes I get a little carried away when I've been drinking."

"You make it sound like this happens a lot," Taro replied, his grin stretching across his face. "Is there anyone else I should know about? Besides Kat of course."

"I was mostly talking about with you." Yuzu said, shaking her head as that made him laugh. Leaning back over to him, she kissed him again.

Having to hold back a little, Taro broke their kiss and got off the car. Turning back to her, he held out a hand. "We should go back, and maybe find you some water while we are at it."

"I guess so," Yuzu agreed, as she accepted his hand and hopped off the car as well. However, she wobbled a lot when she landed on her feet. "I think I need to find something to eat too."

"We'll get right on that." Taro replied, as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders on their way back to the house.

* * *

 **A/N: I enjoyed writing this chapter. Karin is back working on her powers, and both girls seem to be doing well in their relationships. I enjoyed writing all the football-related scenes. What was your favorite moment this chapter?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

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	12. Time to Tell Him

_Review:_

 _Having to hold back a little, Taro broke their kiss and got off the car. Turning back to her, he held out a hand. "We should go back, and maybe find you some water while we are at it."_

" _I guess so," Yuzu agreed, as she accepted his hand and hopped off the car as well. However she wobbled a lot when she landed on her feet. "I think I need to find something to eat too."_

" _We'll get right on that." Taro replied, as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders on their way back to the house._

* * *

 **The next morning, September 17th**

Moving to sit up a little in her bed, Yuzu froze as she felt an ache in her head. Bringing a hand to her head, she closed her eyes, and took in a deep breath. She didn't get home until almost three a.m., and she felt like she was definitely paying for it with the headache she had. Reaching over to her bedside table, she grabbed some Tylenol from the stash she had, and after taking a few she laid back down.

After another fifteen minutes, she finally made herself get out of bed to shower, and when she came back to her room she sat at her desk. Not allowing herself to get back in bed where she knew she would be staying for the rest of the day. Grabbing her journal from a little hiding place behind one of the drawers in the desk, she opened it up to start writing.

 _October 17th_

 _Well, I went to the football game last night, and it was not interesting. Which is not surprising because I have no real interest in sports. However, Taro says he apparently likes football. Just not high school level football. I think we might try going to a college or national level game on a date. I don't think it's really going to change my mind on sports, but you never know. Apart from the football aspect of last night, it was nice to hang out with all my friends. Taro dropped me off at home just after the game ended, and after saying goodnight to dad I snuck out my window and I went to a party. We played a little poker, and I think I had a little too much to drink. I'm pretty hungover now, and regretting it a little._

 _In other news, Taro and I have been enjoying the past few weeks together. Since he is a year older than me, he's a sophomore, and we don't really get to see each other much during the school day. We have lunch together, and Taro usually finds me in the hall between classes so we have a few minutes to talk. He also has to work after school and on weekends sometimes. But when he has the evening off or a weekend off, we've gone on dates, and they've been wonderful._

 _I know I've already written about those in here, but it still makes me happy thinking about how much we've got to really know each other these past few weeks. Things feel back to normal between us… Maybe even better than normal._

Looking away from her journal to her phone, her eyes read that it was 11 a.m., and that meant that both her dad and Karin should have finally left to go to work by now. Leaving her room to go downstairs, she smiled at the silence she was greeted with. Her first stop was to pour herself a cup of coffee. She used to be solely a tea person, but she found coffee helped her power through the hangover. She also got out some stuff for breakfast, as a big breakfast usually helped too. After starting on some bacon, she heard her phone buzz.

 _Hinata: I'm coming over._

 _Yuzu: I'm making breakfast, want some?_

 _Hinata: Yes, please! I'm in hangover hell right now!_

 _Yuzu: Same. I'll see you in a few minutes._

Setting her phone down, Yuzu focused in on fixing breakfast. While she felt a little nauseated, she knew that after she ate something she'll start to feel better. _That or I might get sick. You never know with hangovers._

 **At the gym**

"This is so cool we're finally working together on a shift," Kimi started, as she moved to sit behind the reception desk with Karin. "I had to work my first couple shifts without you, and it was dreadfully boring."

"I just think it's cool that my- I mean our manager is letting us work together," Karin replied, an eyebrow-raising. "It's actually pretty slow this morning, which is pretty unusual for a Saturday."

"It'll probably pick up in a little while," Kimi said, as she turned to face Karin more. "It was nice to finally get to hang out with Toshiro socially last night."

"You've hung out with him "socially" before. Back at our music program, remember?" Karin countered, doodling on the paper in front of her.

"Well, he wasn't technically your boyfriend then."

"There is no technically. We didn't make it official until July 6th. About a week after the music program ended."

"Still..." Kimi trailed off, as she smiled in Karin's direction with a raised eyebrow.

Karin noticed Kimi looking at her. "What?"

"So do you two go out on dates?"

Nodding slowly at Kimi's question, Karin glanced back down to her doodles. "Whenever we have time we do. He has to work a lot, and I have school and work. We're both pretty busy people… It's not like it is a big deal if we actually go out on dates or not. We just consider anytime we get to see each other to kind of be like a date."

"Oh, so you're like that couple that could literally just sit on a couch and watch TV and consider that a date?"

Laughing at Kimi's question, Karin nodded. "I guess. I think Toshiro is more into the whole going out to dinner thing. As you said, I'm literally just happy sitting on the couch and watching TV together."

"Of course you are," Kimi said, laughing along with Karin. "Are you going over there tonight?"

"Yeah, he was busy last week, and we didn't get to see each other apart from when he came over to my house to have dinner with my family on Thursday, then the football game last night… I honestly can't wait to be able to spend the entire evening and night with him-" Karin broke off as she noticed that made Kimi raise her eyebrow. "Not like that Kimi."

Kimi only laughed and waved her hand back at Karin. "Okay well focusing on your family now. Is it still weird for them knowing that you're dating Toshiro?"

"No, I think they've gotten used to the idea… I can't speak for Yuzu though. Some days she's fine with it, and other days, she makes snide remarks about it."

"Well, that's just you and your sister bickering..." Kimi trailed off, as someone walked into the gym. After swiping the person's membership card, she waited for them to walk away before she looked back to Karin. "So are you and Toshiro… You know. Having sex?"

That took Karin slightly off guard, as her eyes widened a little. "No, we're not."

"Really? I just figured..."

"What does that mean?"

Kimi held back in responding as another few people came into the gym, and finally turned back to Karin after they were scanned in. "I mean he is a few years older than us. I always thought that older guys would have that type of relationship. I mean they can do whatever they want to because they don't have to follow their parents' rules anymore. I mean obviously we're fifteen so we still have to listen to our parents' rules. But isn't that weird for him to have to no do certain things with you? Like have sex, not be able to spend that much time alone with you, or the fact that you have a curfew."

"No it doesn't bother him. We're both on the same page on that kind of stuff." Karin replied confidently, her eyes going to the door where even more people came into the gym. As she and Kimi started to get to work as the Saturday rush started, her thoughts started to spin a little. _At least, I don't think that it bothers him._

 **A half hour later**

"Taro and I are going out on a date tonight," Yuzu said, flipping a page in her history textbook, but her focus was far from her study session with Hinata. "We're doing dinner and a movie."

"Have you told your family about him yet?" Hinata asked, having already given up on her textbook, and was focusing on her Pinterest board on her phone.

"No. I don't really think they would be okay with it, because he was the guy that I… You know… Lost _it_ with."

Hinata shrugged at Yuzu's words. "Well you never know- Not that I'm disagreeing with you, I'm just saying."

"I know… I mean I would only be breaking the news to my dad, Ichigo, and Orihime," Yuzu sighed and rubbed her temple. "Karin knows for sure."

"That's not really surprising though," Hinata replied, her eyes lifting to meet Yuzu's, and she noticed her raised eyebrow. "Well I mean he sits with us at lunch, and you two are constantly around each other in the halls, as he waits for you outside of almost all of your classes. I also think that the occasional hand holding, hugging, and kissing probably really seals the deal. You have three classes with your sister, so she was bound to notice eventually."

Yuzu smiled back at Hinata's observation. "That's very true. She actually almost told my dad the other day. I mean I kind of provoked her into it. Honestly, it was just one of those weeks where we weren't really getting along, and I said something I shouldn't have. To be fair, I was kind of annoyed before I spoke to her because my dad wouldn't let me stay at home, and dragged me over to meet my brother."

"Where was your brother?"

"Well he was working out of the country for the past week, so we had to meet him when he got back in." Yuzu took a deep breath, and hoped for a change of subject. _That's not exactly a lie. He was in the Soul Society, and that is technically out of the country… It's also out of this world, but that's not the point._

Hinata nodded slowly, and eyed her barely flipped through the textbook on the table. "So what are you wearing on your date tonight?"

"I'm not sure..." Yuzu trailed off, also eying her textbook. "I think we've worked on this project long enough. Want to come upstairs and help me pick something out?"

Slapping her textbook closed, Hinata was already standing up. "I couldn't agree more. Let's go."

 **Later that evening**

Starting down the street from her house, Yuzu smiled at the sight of Taro's car parked a few houses down. He was leaning against the hood of his car, and had grinned at her as she walked up. "Hey."

"Hey back," Taro greeted, before he straightened up so he could kiss her. His hands remaining on her waist, after the kiss. His eyes swept over her, then met her eyes again. "You look beautiful."

"Thanks," Yuzu smiled as they kissed again. "Were you waiting long?"

"No," Taro said, motioning to the house he was parked in front of. "But we should probably get going though. I don't want to irritate the people who actually live here because I'm parked in front of their house."

Yuzu frowned a little. "I'm sorry we have to do this."

"No, no, don't apologize," Taro replied, a reassuring smile on his face. "I want you to be comfortable when you tell your family that we're seeing each other."

"I just feel like now isn't the right time."

"I'm okay with that. I actually like having you to myself right now. Once we let our families in on our little secret, it's like there are magically more hoops we have to jump through." Taro moved over to the passenger side, and opened her door for her to get in the car. His eyes met hers, and they shared a smile as she got in the car.

Yuzu felt a little flutter in her chest, as she watched him close her door and jog around to the car to the driver's side. _I like having him to myself too._

Nearly half an hour later they were not at the movie theater, but at a huge art gala in the city. Yuzu was still kind of at awe at the event. "I thought we were just going to see a movie, but you completely surprised me. I can't believe you managed to get tickets to this. This is so exclusive, and this particular set of paintings is only supposed to be showing in the city tonight only."

"Well, I can't take full credit. One of my cousins knew a guy who works here and did me a favor." Taro replied, smiling at how that made Yuzu laugh.

"It's still nice of you," Yuzu said, looping her arm through his, as they moved into the next room. "You're full of surprises. I feel like each date we've had that you've planned it's always different, but always fun."

Taro grinned at that. "Well I haven't told you this, but I'm trying to impress this girl I really like."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, she's really pretty, and her favorite color is red-"

"Okay, okay," Yuzu interrupted, laughing along with him. "The point that I was making, is that I really have enjoyed our dates."

"I've enjoyed them too," Taro agreed, leaning over to kiss her. When their kiss broke, he motioned ahead of them. "Come, we still have a few more rooms to get through, then we have a dinner reservation."

 **The next day**

Opening her eyes, Karin had to blink a few times to adjust to the light coming in from the window. Yawning after a moment, a smile began when she felt Toshiro's arm slipping around her. "There's way too much light in here."

Toshiro chuckled, as he pulled her a little closer to him. "It'd be nice to have some of those blackout curtains you had in your room in New Luna."

"It would be..." Karin agreed, as she trailed off into silence. Enjoying the moment of being so close to Toshiro.

"I think it might be time to tell your dad that you've been coming over here."

Toshiro's words had Karin's eyes snapping open, as she moved over onto her back so she could see Toshiro's face. "Are you out of your mind? He would definitely not be okay with this."

Raising an eyebrow, Toshiro propped his head up on his hand. "Okay, well originally you thought he'd react badly to us being in a relationship, but he ended up being okay with it."

"It's not the same thing," Karin replied almost immediately. "Me being in a relationship with you, and me coming over to your apartment and sleeping over are two very different concepts."

"I disagree."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes-"

"Okay," Karin interrupted him, as she crossed her arms over her chest. "If I tell my dad that I'm going over to your apartment or that I want to spend the night over here, he's going to think I'm coming here to have sex and not let me see you anymore."

Toshiro hummed and nodded once. "Okay, first of all, we're not having sex. So I don't really see how that would be an issue. Second of all, he knows that I come over to your house when he's not there, and he doesn't seem to have a problem with that."

"I feel like even if I told my dad that we're not having sex, he's not going to believe me," Karin said, sighing at the thought. "Have you met my siblings? They both clearly haven't left good examples for my dad to even begin to trust me on that."

Frowning at her words, Toshiro shook his head. "Do you plan on continuing to sneak around until you're 18 then? Telling your dad you're at Kimi's or your other friends just so you can come over here."

"Of course that's not what I want," Karin shot back, then she sighed again. Letting her head rest back on the pillows, as her eyes left his to look up at the ceiling. The silence dragged on for a moment, as another thought was bugging her. "Does it bother you that we're not having sex?"

Toshiro raised an eyebrow at her question. "No, it doesn't."

Meeting his eyes, Karin frowned. "Are you just saying that because I told you that I wasn't ready to have sex?"

Confused at why she was bringing this up again, Toshiro shook his head. "Karin we had this discussion last month, right after we started dating. I told you that it's fine that you're not ready, and I am perfectly fine waiting as long as you want to… Why are you bringing this up again?"

Karin hesitated to respond, as she stared up at the ceiling for a moment. Finally, she moved her arms up to stretch then she rested them over her face. "Kimi and I were talking at work yesterday, and she told me that she assumed we were. I asked why and she said that because you are older than me. She thinks that older guys that are outside of high school can just do whatever they want to, and it must be weird having to abide by me having a curfew, how we can't spend much time alone together, or that we're not having sex."

Toshiro reached over, and took one of her hands to bring her arm down so he could see her face. "Karin, I don't care that you have a curfew. You know me. I would happily be in bed by ten o'clock every night… I also don't care that we're not having sex. I want you to feel one hundred percent comfortable when we do take that next step, and I don't care if that's tomorrow or three years from now."

"Really?"

"Yes really," Toshiro said, leaning over a little to kiss her. "I would like to spend more time alone with you though. It's not that I don't love going over to your house and listening to you and your sister bicker. Or when Ichigo comes over, and he glares daggers at me whenever I touch you for more than a few seconds-" He broke off and laughed along with Karin at that one. "You know what I mean. I like your family and your friends. It'd just be nice to have more time for just you and I. I mean we're both pretty busy with you at school, work, or training. I'm constantly doing work for the Soul Society. So we can't really be picky on when we get to spend time together, but I'd like to at least try to have just time for you and I."

"I want that too," Karin agreed, then she sighed. "I guess I'm just worried. I don't want my dad to take me asking to come over here to hang out or sleep over the wrong way, then not let me see you at all."

"I guess I can understand that, but I think that it's important that you're honest him. You were the one who told him that you were going to be more honest with him," Toshiro reminded, reaching his hand up to gently stroke her hair out of her face. "I think as long as you are straightforward and honest with him that's the most important thing. He may not be okay with it at first, but he might come around."

"I hope so..." Karin trailed off, before turning in to face Toshiro. Resting her head on his chest, she sighed happily when he wrapped his arms around her. _I really do hope so._

 **A couple hours later**

Walking into her house, Karin's eyes moved to where her dad was sitting at the kitchen table. "Morning dad."

"Good morning," Isshin greeted, his eyes looking up from the medical files he was reviewing. "How was Kimi's?"

Karin hesitated in replying, as she kicked off her shoes and set her bag on the couch. "Uh it was just usual Grey's Anatomy re-runs, and we studied a little..." She trailed off, as she walked over to the kitchen table to sit down in her usual chair, an eyebrow raised at her dad drinking coffee. "Are you just now having your first cup of coffee? It's past eleven."

"Actually this is my third," Isshin admitted, a half-smile appearing on his face. "Since you weren't here, there was much more coffee available."

Chuckling at that, Karin fell into silence, and eyed the table for a long moment. Finally, she sighed and looked back at her dad. "There's actually something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Okay," Isshin started, setting his coffee mug down, then he met her eyes. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I was wondering if you might be okay with the idea of me going over to Toshiro's apartment to hang out sometimes, and maybe occasionally I could spend the night over there..." Karin trailed off, already able to to see her dad's eyes widen a little.

"You want me to allow you to go spend the night at your boyfriend's house at fifteen years old?"

"Dad, I can take care of myself," Karin replied, however she realized how that sounded, and quickly shook her head. "That's not what I meant… Dad, this is going to be incredibly awkward to talk about, but I'm not having sex with Toshiro."

Isshin was silent for a long moment after she said that, and finally he seemed to relax. "Okay."

"I am not ready for that, and I made that quite clear to Toshiro right after we started dating. He understands that I'm not ready, and he wants to wait until I'm a hundred percent sure that I want to. However long that will be," Karin said, sighing heavily at the awkward air between them. "After we set up this whole honesty thing last month, I figured this would be a lot easier of a conversation, but this is still incredibly awkward."

"Well I appreciate your honesty." Isshin told her, still not saying anything more.

Karin crossed her arms over her chest, and she leaned a little on the table. "I don't want to sound insensitive to Orihime or to Yuzu either. But with everything that has happened with me having a surprise niece this year, and Yuzu's whole situation with what happened at her art program… I don't want to be unprepared like they were. If I eventually think about having sex, I want to have a plan. I want to be on birth control, and I want to make sure we're being as careful as possible. But the real point is: I'm not planning on it anytime soon… If-in the future-I change my mind, then I will let you know. I just want to be honest about it."

"Well when that happens, I don't necessarily need all the details. I would just ask that you start seeing an OBGYN doctor when that time comes, and get on birth control," Isshin told her, then he sighed. "However, if you do need to talk to me about it, then I will be there."

That brought a smile to Karin's face, as she nodded. "Now as for me going over to Toshiro's and maybe occasionally spending the night, it's not like I just want to up and go spend all my free time over there, and always spend the night over there. He's busy leading a division for the Soul Society, and he's got to train and go on assignments a lot. Meanwhile, I have school, a job, and my own training. I'm not saying that we don't want to spend time over here with everyone, it'd just be nice to be able to occasionally spend time with each other without everyone else around us all the time."

Isshin was quiet for a long moment, but he finally nodded. "Okay, if you'd like to go over there you can, and even spend the night every once in a while. But you have to remain honest and communicate with me. I don't want this to turn into you spending all of your free time over there either. I would still like to see you here at home, and you know that you're welcome to invite Toshiro over here as well. I also want to make sure that Toshiro understands this too."

"I don't think that will be a problem," Karin said, noticing her dad's raised eyebrow, she laughed lightly. "I was pretty hesitant on talking to you about this, but it was really Toshiro who was encouraging me to talk to you."

Isshin chuckled here, and picked up his coffee to take a sip. "I find myself liking him more and more these days."

Karin laughed at that. "Don't forget about me."

"That's not possible… Unfortunately." Isshin smirked at Karin's look, and he shook his head. "I'm just kidding."

"I'm sure." Karin hummed, but kept her smile on her face. _That_ _w_ _as a lot easier than I thought it would be… I guess Toshiro was right on this one._

* * *

 **A/N: I really enjoyed writing this chapter. We see Yuzu going on a date with Taro, and Karin and Toshiro finally don't have to sneak Karin over to his apartment now.**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

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	13. Meeting The Parents

_Review:_

 _Isshin chuckled here, and picked up his coffee to take a sip. "I find myself liking him more and more these days."_

 _Karin laughed at that. "Don't forget about me."_

" _That's not possible… Unfortunately." Isshin smirked at Karin's look, and he shook his head. "I'm just kidding."_

" _I'm sure." Karin hummed, but kept her smile on her face. That was a lot easier than I thought it would be… I guess Toshiro was right on this one._

* * *

 **A week and a half later, Thursday, September 29th**

Shoving her house keys in her bag, Karin grabbed her phone and left her room to go downstairs. Her eyes went to the kitchen table where Orihime and Ichigo sat. "Hey." She greeted, before focused on Mina, who her dad was holding.

"Are you going to train?" Ichigo asked, an eyebrow raised at Karin not dressed in her pajamas already. Usually, on her days off from work, she'd be in her pajamas almost as soon as she got home.

"No I'm off of work, and Akira can't train me today." Karin replied, her focus moved down to Bingo who was running around her feet.

Orihime smiled at that. "So you're actually going out and doing things on your day off?"

"Well, I'm not really doing anything. I'm just going over to Toshiro's, and we're probably going to eat dinner and watch a movie." Karin replied, moving into the kitchen to go grab a treat for Bingo. She had insisted that they have dog treats at the house for whenever they watched Bingo.

Almost as soon as Karin had walked away, Ichigo's eyes went to his dad. "Are you okay with this?"

Isshin nodded once back at his son. "Yes, she asked me when she first got home from school today."

"So you're just going to let her go over to his apartment where it'll just be the two of them?" Ichigo countered, a frown settling on his face.

Isshin chuckled at the clearly protective tone in his son's voice. "Ichigo, I trust your sister, and she's capable of being responsible for her own decisions. In case you forgot, you made your own decisions in high school. For example, when you decided to become a shinigami and risk your life every day without telling me. Or just disappearing for weeks at a time for weeks at a time."

"I don't really think that's the same thing-"

"I'm going to stop you right there," Isshin interrupted, holding a frown of his own on his face. "This is really not up for discussion here. This is between Karin and I. We had an honest open discussion about her going over to Toshiro's apartment, and I have no reason not to trust her or Toshiro."

Before Ichigo could say anything, Karin walked out of the kitchen with a happy Bingo running around with a treat in his mouth. "Okay, Toshiro is about to be here, so I'm going to go ahead and go outside."

"Okay, be back here by ten. It's a school night." Isshin reminded, watching as she walked to the door.

"Will do." Karin replied before she left outside. She stood on the porch for a moment, then walked down the steps once Toshiro's car pulled up. Once at Toshiro's car, she got in and kissed him after putting on her seat belt.

"How's your day been so far?" Toshiro asked, as he started forward driving.

"My day has been pretty uneventful, yours?"

"It was mostly full of paperwork, and trying not to strangle certain members of my division for not recording things on their paperwork properly."

"Well, maybe dinner and whatever movie we watch later will make our day at least somewhat interesting."

"Speaking of dinner," Toshiro started, coming to a stop at a red light. "I already ordered Chinese, and we can pick it up on the way to my place."

"That's perfect; I'm starving." Karin replied, offering a smile back to Toshiro.

 **Over an hour later**

Having finished eating dinner, Karin was sitting at the kitchen table, and going through Naomi's Instagram to look at pictures of her cat. After a moment of liking a few new pictures, Karin sighed heavily.

"What?" Toshiro asked, having heard her sigh from where he was putting away leftovers from dinner.

"I'm going to die if I don't get a cat soon."

Chuckling at her dramatic words, Toshiro moved on to put their dishes into the dishwasher. "That's a little dramatic..." He trailed off as he looked to her, and noticed her frowning at him. "But reasonable."

Breaking out of her frown to laugh, Karin set her phone down, and propped her chin on her hand. "I know it's not reasonable to say that, but I feel like it's never going to happen."

"You never know," Toshiro offered with a shrug of his shoulders. "You have been harassing your dad about it for months."

"I don't know. I think "harassing" is a bit strong."

It was Toshiro's turn to frown at Karin, as he raised an eyebrow. "You text him at least 10 cat pictures every day."

"Okay, you're right," Karin replied with a sigh. "I've always wanted to have pets. I love animals a lot more than I love most humans, but my dad never let us have any pets growing up."

"Is there any particular reason?"

"I mean it was just my dad raising us. Up until a couple of years ago, my dad ran a clinic from part of our house, and he was always really busy," Karin started, leaning her head back against the chair. "Of course Ichigo, Yuzu, and I weren't really ready for the responsibility of taking on a pet. But I'm absolutely ready now."

"Maybe you could sell him on a dog instead."

"It's not that I wouldn't want a dog. It's just that I would prefer a cat right now. I still have a somewhat busy schedule, and out of the two cats are pretty easy to take care of."

"Well you never know," Toshiro started, walking back over to the table. "Maybe you're dad will change his mind in a month or two."

Karin sighed again, but she looked at Toshiro when he had brought his hand to push some of her hair back. "I don't know if I can wait that long."

Toshiro chuckled at her over-dramatic sigh. "How about we watch that movie now?"

"Okay," Karin agreed, her eyes going back up to Toshiro. "Can we get ice cream first; I'm a little depressed."

Smiling at her words, Toshiro leaned over to kiss her. "Sure thing."

 **A couple days later, Saturday**

Finishing the last of her waffles, Karin reached for her coffee mug to wash it down. Her eyes glued to her phone where she was liking the photo of Mina that Orihime posted on Instagram.

"Good morning," Isshin greeted, after walking downstairs. An eyebrow raised in Karin's direction. "You're up early. I thought you'd sleep in since you don't have anything to do today."

"I just kind of woke up early, and felt like getting up," Karin replied, then she motioned to her coffee mug. "I made coffee."

Isshin sighed, but held a smile on his face as he went to the kitchen. "I know I should discourage you to be drinking as much coffee as you do, but it's nice not having to make the coffee in the morning."

"That's what I'm here for." Karin shot back, chuckling herself after hearing her dad laugh in the kitchen.

Walking out of the kitchen a minute later, Isshin sipped his coffee, as he sat down at the table. "There is something I'd like to talk to you about."

"What's up?" Karin asked, her eyes moving up from her phone to look at her dad.

"I've been thinking about it, and if you still want to, you can adopt a cat-"

"Really?" Karin interrupted, her eyes wide, as she dropped her phone on the table.

"Yes really." Isshin nodded, a smirk on his face as that made her laugh. "Now there are conditions. You have to remember that you are going to be responsible for the cat. Feeding it and buying it the things it needs, or any vet bills that come along with it. I can help you out if you absolutely need it, but ultimately it is going to be your cat. Your responsibility."

"Yeah of course," Karin replied, getting up from the table, and hugging her dad. "Thank you so much. This is so awesome!"

"You're welcome," Isshin said, watching her grab her phone and dishes from breakfast. "Who are you texting this early in the morning?"

"Pretty much everyone I know. This is a really big deal." Karin replied, walking into the kitchen to put her dishes in the sink, as she started texting Toshiro.

 **A couple hours later**

"This is going to be a lot harder than I thought." Was the first thing Karin said, walking down another aisle of animals at the shelter.

"You've been thinking about this for months. Don't you have a good idea of what kind of cat you want?" Toshiro asked, raising an eyebrow at her sigh.

"Yes, of course, I have been thinking about it, but it's not as simple as just picking out one," Karin replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "There are so many animals here that need a home, and it's going to be difficult picking one out."

"Well take as much time as you need." Toshiro told her, his focus going down to his phone when it buzzed.

Karin heard him chuckling and glanced over. "What?"

"Your dad said to make sure that you only leave here with one animal today."

"I will… probably."

Smirking at Karin's words, Toshiro reached over and took her hand. "We'll make sure it's only one."

Karin hummed lowly, as they reached the big room with the cats in it. "Since when do you have my dad's number, and since when have you started texting him?"

"Shortly after your dad agreed to let you come over to my apartment, I had come over to pick you up to give you a ride to work one day, and we exchanged numbers then."

"Okay..."

Noticing Karin's raised eyebrow, Toshiro smirked. "It's not like we regularly talk to each other. I feel like it just makes him more comfortable with you coming over to my place if he can contact me as well as you."

"I guess so-" Karin broke off, as her eyes caught onto a little black kitten playing with a piece of newspaper in one of the cages. It had one white sock, and a little white patch of fur over one of his eyes. He had blue eyes, and she felt drawn to the little guy.

One of the employees walked over and stopped beside them. "So have you found any that have caught your eye?"

"I don't know..." Karin trailed off, she stepped a little closer to the cage. There were four other kittens in the cage, but her eyes remained locked on the little black one. A smile growing on her face, as she watched the kitten step in the water bowl by accident and spaz out after realizing it's paw was wet.

The employee noticed Karin watching the kitten. "That guy has been here for almost a month. The rest of his litter had got adopted, and this is the first group of kittens that have accepted him. He just hasn't got lucky enough to be adopted I guess."

Toshiro watched Karin nod slowly, and he followed her gaze to the kitten. "Karin?"

"Can I hold him?" Karin asked the employee, her eyes still focusing on the little kitten.

"Sure," the lady replied, going to the cage, she opened it and opened the door a little. Having to struggle for a moment to keep the other kittens from getting out, she finally managed to grab the black kitten. "Now if you feel like you need to set him down, it's okay to do so. The doors are closed."

Almost as soon as the kitten was in Karin's arms, she was overcome with instant love with the little guy. He was a little wild, as he played with the string on her jacket. After a moment, her eyes moved to meet Toshiro's, as she smiled.

Returning a smile to Karin, Toshiro nodded, and his eyes went to the employee. "I think she's found her cat."

 **A half hour later**

Moving past Karin, Toshiro opened her car door for her, and smirked after she got in. "I can't wait to get cat hair all over my car."

"Oh please," Karin started, smiling at the sarcasm in his voice. "How is that different than my hair?"

"True. You do shed like a cat."

"Ha ha." Karin shot back, sticking out her tongue at him after he closed her car door to walk around to the driver's side.

Once Toshiro had got in and started the car up, he glanced over in her direction after starting on the road. "That was a lot faster than I expected it would be. I thought we'd be there all day."

"It was just like he was calling out to me," Karin replied, her eyes focused down on the tiny black kitten she was holding. He had gotten a little spazzy as they were leaving the animal shelter, but had calmed down after they got in the car. "I can't believe he was there for over a month. How could anyone not want him? He's adorable."

The had stopped at a red light when Toshiro finally looked over to Karin. "Are you crying?"

Sniffling a little, Karin just smiled down at the little kitten who was playing with the strings on her jacket again. "No."

"Okay then," Toshiro said, smiling at how happy she was. "I guess we should go by the pet store now."

"Absolutely."

 **Later that evening**

"Oh, he's so cute, Karin." Orihime said, having managed to pet the new kitten a few times, as he had darted all over the living room playing with his new toys.

"I know. I love him so much." Karin replied, rolling another one of the new kitten's toys across the living room, and smiling as he pounced on it.

Orihime sighed at the cuteness of the kitten. "I want one so bad-"

"Orihime, remember Bingo?" Ichigo interrupted quickly, showing her a picture from his phone. "The really cute golden retriever puppy that you adopted a few months ago without telling me, and is still a pretty big handful."

That made Isshin and Karin laugh, Orihime only shrugged. "I know, but we could always use more animal friends for Mina."

"We can get her a stuffed animal." Ichigo deadpanned, making the others laugh. Mina even making a little noise from where she was in the swing they had set up by TV stand.

A knock on the door was heard, but before anyone could say come in, Kimi walked right in. "I came over as soon as I got off work-" she stopped at the sight of the new kitten. "Oh my god, Karin."

Karin had to grab the kitten quickly to keep him from escaping past her in the direction of the kitchen. "I know."

Dropping her bag first, Kimi then knelt down to offer the kitten her hand, before she pet it. "He is absolutely the cutest thing I've ever seen. Have you named him yet?"

"Not yet, one hasn't really stuck out to me," Karin replied, letting the kitten go run off after Kimi got a chance to pet him. "This is actually the best day of my life, I think."

Kimi, who had got her phone out to take pictures of the new kitten, offered Karin a smile. "You can use these for Instagram. I was waiting all day at work for you to post a picture of him, and that obviously never happened."

"My apologies." Karin replied, making them all laugh.

"Didn't you say Toshiro went with you?"

"Yeah, but he had some stuff to do this evening, and left about half an hour ago."

Before Kimi could reply to Karin, Isshin stood up from the couch. "I think I'm going to order pizza for dinner. Kimi, would you like to join us?"

"Sure. My parents are on a business trip, and my older brother has an exam on Monday. He's on campus and studying at the library because apparently, I'm annoying to study around." Kimi said, having managed to capture the new kitten when he came back by, and she pet him.

"I don't blame him. Whenever we study together, you get distracted every few minutes." Karin added, after the others had laughed.

The front door opening, caught the others attention, as Yuzu walked inside. She didn't acknowledge Karin or Kimi on the floor, but went straight to greet Mina. "Hey, guys."

After the others greeted her, Isshin walked in after having ordered pizza. "Hey, stranger. You've been gone all day."

"I was just hanging out with friends," Yuzu replied, her eyes finally catching onto the fact that the kitten was there as it had scurried past her feet to go after a toy. "Wow, dad broke down, and finally let you have a cat."

"Yeah, he did." Karin replied, a frown on her face at the sight of a smirk on Yuzu's face. As usual, her sister's words hit a nerve.

Sensing a tension build between his two daughters, Isshin quickly cleared his throat to get their attention. "Yuzu, I've just ordered pizza-"

"That's alright dad, I ate at Hinata's." Yuzu interrupted, standing up from having been kneeling down in front of Mina's swing to shower her niece with attention.

Yuzu went upstairs, and the focus went back to the kitten after he managed to knock some paper off the coffee table. Karin's smile returned to her face. "Perfect, I always thought those papers looked better on the floor anyway."

After the others laugh, Kimi grabbed another one of the kitten's toys. "So we need to figure out this whole name situation."

"I know, but I just can't settle on one," Karin said, sighing dramatically. "You would think I would have known as soon as I adopted him."

"I figured that when it came to Mina," Ichigo started, motioning in his daughter's direction. "But over 200 sticky notes later, and we finally narrowed it down."

Orihime nodded, as she chuckled. "We might actually still have extra sticky notes left over in the study."

"No, no," Isshin said quickly, pointing in Karin's direction. "That got way out of control, and I don't even want to imagine how it would get for your cat. Pick a name and just stick with it."

"Like it's _that_ easy," Karin said, sighing as she looked down at the wiggling cat that had jumped in her lap. Her eyes went to Kimi after a moment. "Did you start that movie paper yet?"

"Of course not," Kimi replied, her focus now going to Mina who was looking extra cute from her little swing. "I haven't even picked out a movie."

"Well just choose the same movie as me, and we can suffer through it together," Karin said, picking up the papers that the kitten had knocked over onto the floor. Smiling as that had got his attention, and he went back after the papers. "I'm going to watch Zorro. Because it was the most interesting one off the movie list."

It was quiet in response, as Kimi looked to Karin. Then she motioned down to the kitten. "Seriously?"

"What-" Karin broke off as she got what Kimi was saying. Picking up the kitten, who wiggled around a bit in her hands. "Don't you think that Zorro is too cliché for a black cat?"

"No absolutely not," Kimi replied, waving off Karin's raised eyebrow. "His name is Zorro; I have decided."

"Really?" Karin countered, a smirk appearing on her face.

"If you name him anything else, I'm not going to accept the role of his cat godmother, and he'll blame you for the rest of his life for not receiving all the gifts I plan on giving him." Kimi met Karin's eyes again, and crossed her arms over her chest.

Finally, Karin broke into a laugh, and she held the kitten up to eye level. "I'm sorry Zorro, but your cat godmother has decided. You're going to have to live with the cliché."

"That was pretty easy," Ichigo said, a smirk on his face. "All it took was for Kimi to be over here for all of five minutes."

"That's all it takes apparently-" Orihime broke off, as Mina started crying.

After Orihime had got up to go take Mina down the hall to change her, Kimi turned back to face Karin. "You're creative too. That's why I need you to find creative ways for me not to die of boredom when we watch Zorro. I mean the movie, not the cat."

"Obviously," Karin said, laughing along with Kimi as her focus went back down the kitten after she let him go. _Zorro kind of works for him. No matter the cliché._

 **A week later, Friday, October 7th**

"So you two didn't want to go to the football game tonight?"

"No, we passed on that one," Taro replied, his eyes going to Yuzu, then back across the table where his parents sat. "We're both not really that interested in it that much."

"Well, you always watch football with me on the weekend." His dad pointed out, an eyebrow raised in his son's direction.

"That's different," Taro started, grabbing his glass of water to take a sip. "That's college or national level football. High school football isn't anywhere near the same level, so it's really not interesting."

"How do you feel about sports Yuzu?" Taro's mother asked, getting attention back to their guest.

Yuzu looked up from the dinner that Taro's mother had prepared for them, and met his mother's eyes. "Well, to be honest, I'm not really that interested in sports."

"However," Taro said before she could say more. "I am going to try to win her over to our side. I'm thinking about taking her to a game for our favorite national team."

"You should probably try to take her in November," his dad started, his eyes going from Yuzu to his son. "Most of the good seats for October games are sold out. I can probably ask my buddy to help you out on that."

"That'd be appreciated," Taro replied with a lopsided grin and a nod.

"So Yuzu," Taro's mom started, offering her a smile again. "What are you interested in?"

Feeling the eyes of Taro and his parents on her again, Yuzu offered a smile. "I'm mostly interested in art. I do a little bit of everything, and it's something I'm really passionate about."

"Taro has showed us some of your paintings, and they are lovely." His mom replied to her.

"You haven't even seen the half of it. She's really good," Taro spoke up, before Yuzu could. "At the art gala, all of her paintings were bought almost immediately. Then at our art program, all the instructors loved her and her paintings."

Feeling her cheeks grow a little warm, Yuzu quickly tried to hide it as she smiled. "They liked your paintings too."

"Sure," Taro agreed with a shrug. "However, I don't think I left the best impression on some of the instructors."

Yuzu smile widened at that. "Maybe that's because you always left your classes early to go to my class to walk with me after my classes were over."

Chuckling a little, Taro smiled back at her. "You're not wrong."

After sharing a look with Taro, Yuzu tried to change the subject after feeling her face grow warm again. "Dinner has been great. Thank you so much for making it. It's been a while since I've had something that was home cooked."

"So does your family not cook much at home?" Taro's dad asked.

"Well we used to," Yuzu said, setting her water back on the table after taking a sip. "After my brother and his fiance moved out after they had their daughter, my sister got a job, and my dad works a lot too. So, it usually ends up being whatever is more convenient."

Taro's mom smiled at Yuzu. "Well, I'm glad you're enjoying the food tonight. I'm glad we could have you over."

 **An hour and a half later**

Turning onto the road Yuzu's house was on, Taro parked a couple houses down from Yuzu's. "Here we are."

Yuzu unbuckled her seat belt, but remained in her seat. Turning a little to face him, she smiled. "I had a great time tonight. Your parents are really nice."

"I'm glad you got to meet them."

"Me too..." Yuzu trailed off, and chuckled. "Honestly, I didn't really know what to expect. I've never really "met the parents" before."

"I've never brought any girls to meet my parents before, so it was a first time experience for both of us," Taro said, pausing for a moment, as he looked at her. "Maybe we could do this again, but with your family."

That dropped Yuzu's smile right off her face. "I don't know. I don't think that'll be a good idea yet."

Taro raised an eyebrow. "You met my parents and it was fine."

"Does your parents know that we had sex, and I thought I was pregnant?"

Taro was quiet for a moment, then shook his head. "Not exactly."

"That's my point," Yuzu said, sighing heavily, as she let her head rest against the seat. "My family does know that fact, and Karin and my other friends know you're the guy that all that happened with. I don't see my family reacting well either."

"Well, your family was okay with meeting your sister's boyfriend right?" Taro countered, his eyebrow raised. "He was the one who was with her during her music program. Oh, and isn't he older than her? Way more than a year like you and I are."

"I guess, but they weren't really seeing each other until after they got home from the program. Sure, they kissed each other one time during the program, but that wasn't really anything," Yuzu said, then she sighed heavily. "It also doesn't help that her boyfriend is best friends with my brother's fiancee, and he's in their friend group."

Despite Yuzu's frown, Taro smiled at her. "Okay, well our situation is a bit different, but I'd still like to meet them at some point. I don't want to rush you, but I think it's important. Especially now."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, now that we're dating," Taro replied, reaching over to take one of her hands. "We've been going on dates with each other for almost a month now, and I'd like to make it more official."

"Really?" Yuzu asked, her smile returning to her face.

Taro nodded, as he leaned over and kissed her once. "I think things have been going pretty well, and I want you to know that I'm serious about you. I want you to be my girlfriend."

"Okay," Yuzu said, kissing him this time, and she smiled again when their kiss broke. "I want you to meet my family. Maybe next week you can come over for dinner… If you want to that is."

"I want to," Taro said, kissing her and reaching up to caress her cheek. "Maybe you should tell them who I am before I come over there though. I think if we do it in person, they might not be too friendly about it."

Yuzu laughed at that. "Good idea."

 **A few days later, Tuesday the 11th**

"So how's the big dinner coming along?" Hinata asked, her eyes breaking away from the homework she was supposed to be doing, and her focus went to Yuzu across the table.

Forgetting her own homework, Yuzu propped her elbows on the table. "I haven't asked my family yet… Well, I mentioned it to my dad, but I didn't tell him who Taro was just yet."

"Are you serious? Isn't the dinner tomorrow?"

"I'm nervous, okay?"

"Well I'm sure they'd figure it out eventually," Hinata said, shrugging her shoulders. "I mean Karin knows, and it'll probably be obvious that she does when he comes over tomorrow."

"I'm not sure when the best time would be-"

The front door opening stopped Yuzu, and in walked her dad, Karin, Orihime and Mina, and Ichigo. Orihime set Mina's carrier down. "We missed you at dinner."

"I had to get this homework done with Hinata." Yuzu replied, her eyes going to her friend, as Hinata had stood up.

"I actually have to get going," Hinata said, then she leaned over to whisper to Yuzu. "Tell them."

Sighing heavily at that, Yuzu waited until after Hinata left to look in the others direction. "So I've already talked to dad about this, but tomorrow I invited someone over for dinner. It'd be nice if you could come."

After sharing a look with Ichigo, Orihime offered Yuzu a smile. "We would love to."

"Well actually there is something else I should mention," Yuzu said, as she got up from the kitchen table to walk over towards the couches. "The someone is this guy I have sort of started going out with… Like, as in, a relationship."

It was quiet for a moment, then Karin started to laugh from where she had just put Zorro down to play with one of his toys. "Oh finally. This is going to be great."

"It's not funny, Karin," Yuzu snapped, then she had to take a deep breath. "I also think it's important to mention that we sort of started casually seeing each other back during my art program."

Almost immediately the others faces showed they had caught onto what that meant. However, Isshin was the first to speak up. "It'll be nice to meet him Yuzu..." he trailed off, as he looked to the others after Yuzu went upstairs. "We're all going to be civil about this, and not bring up anything about what happened this Summer.."

Ichigo noticed his dad's specifically on him, and he crossed his arms over his chest. "We'll see."

"Oh Ichigo," Orihime said, resting her hand on Ichigo's shoulder after Karin had taken Mina from her. "It'll be okay."

 **The next day**

Walking out of 7th period Art, Yuzu walked down to the first floor to go to her locker, as school was finally over or the day. At the sight of a familiar grey snapback with paint splatters on it, she smiled and walked over to see Taro leaning against her locker. "Hey."

Taro straightened up, and hugged her briefly and kissed her. "Hey."

"What are you doing here?" Yuzu asked after they had kissed again. "You usually leave after 6th period."

"Since I don't have work today, I just kind of hung out, and waited for you to get out of class."

Having changed some of the textbooks out in her locker, Yuzu shut the door, and turned to face him. "This is a nice change."

As they started walking to the front of the school, Taro took her hand. "So when should I be over at your house?"

"I think five thirty would be good." Yuzu replied, feeling a little anxious at the idea.

Noticing Yuzu's expression change, Taro nudged her a little. "Hey, it's going to be fine."

"I know it is, but I can't help it..." Yuzu trailed off, as they left out the front door of the school. Stopping on the sidewalk, she turned to face him. "Let's just hope that there aren't any world wars starting tonight."

"Yuzu." Taro said, pushing her hair back, and smiling at her.

Taking a deep breath, Yuzu sighed, and her smile returned to her face. "Right, it'll be fine."

Taro leaned his down to kiss her again. "Want a ride home?"

"That'd be nice." Yuzu agreed, her hand going back to hold Taro's as they walked into the parking lot. Trying to keep her mind far from the fact that in just a few hours they were either going to have a nice dinner or a disaster.

 **A few hours later**

"So Taro," Orihime said, as they had sat down for dinner. "Yuzu's talked about how you're working."

"Yeah, I work part-time at the electronics store that's a block down from Rocky's," Taro replied, his eyes meeting Orihime's. "My parents were generous enough to buy my first car for me, but I want to make sure I'm paying the bill for it each month from now on."

Isshin nodded at that. "That's great, and it shows responsibility."

"Are you into electronics?" Orihime asked, not letting them fall into silence.

"Well it's really just a hobby," Taro replied, a smile growing on his face. "My dad and I would build computers from scratch, and before school started this year, we replaced the stereo system in my car with a radio we built. It took us a while, but that's because we stopped to go fishing for a couple weeks."

"Where do you usually go?" Isshin asked.

"It's this lake an hour up north in the mountains. My dad and I used to take trips up there a few times each Summer. My family has a cabin up there."

Isshin raised an eyebrow. "Lake by the lodge?"

Taro grinned and nodded. "Yeah, my parents bought a cabin up there. During the Summer my dad and I go fish, and in Winter we go skiing."

"I used to go up to there with my father growing up too," Isshin said, a smirk on his face, as his eyes went to Ichigo. "My son was never really interested in it."

"Hey, I was too. I just have had a lot going on these past few years." Ichigo shot back, a smirk on his own face.

"Well, maybe we could go fish sometime." Taro said, his eyes going to Ichigo.

For the first time since Taro came over, Ichigo met his eyes to speak to him. "Okay, but only if you can get Yuzu to go too. We could get Karin to go with us back when we went, but Yuzu would never step foot near the lake to fish."

Yuzu shrugged and smiled at that. "I just don't see the joy in fishing. I think it's boring."

"It's relaxing," Taro said, nudging her shoulder. Then his eyes moved across the table, to meet turquoise ones. "What about you Toshiro? Do you fish?"

Having been watching Karin play with Zorro with her foot under the table, Toshiro focused back on the others and nodded once. "Not in a while, but I did a lot when I was younger. I have to agree that it is pretty relaxing."

That had Karin laugh shortly, as she looked over to him. "Almost like meditating. Except for the difference between the two is that when you are fishing you don't feel like you need to bang your head into a wall with how bored you are."

"You do yoga, and that's not that far off from meditating. So, I really think you're being overdramatic, like usual." Toshiro replied, smirking at how that made her roll her eyes.

Orihime shrugged at that. "I might have to agree with Karin. When you made me meditate a few times, it was not really that enjoyable."

"Thank you, Orihime- Ow!" Karin exclaimed as Zorro's claws dug into her foot. "Shit that hurt."

"Karin language." Isshin said, although he sighed and didn't pursue it. At this point, swearing was the least of the problems he had to deal with raising his children.

Toshiro grinned in Karin's direction. "You were the one who asked for it by getting a cat."

"Thanks for the support." Karin said, laughing at how that made Toshiro smirk.

"So Toshiro," Taro started, having eyed the small black kitten that had shot out from under the table into the living room. "Since you're out of school, where do you work?"

At the looks from some of the others, Toshiro coughed. "Well, I work in government- secret agent, actually."

While that brought some laughter from the others, Karin sighed and slapped her hand to her face. "I swear. Will you and Kimi stop saying that?"

"Nope, I think it sounds pretty cool." Toshiro replied, smirking at her smiling a little.

"I know you're only half-way through high school yourself Taro," Isshin started, getting attention back on Taro. "Have you given any thought to what you want to do once you graduate?"

Taro shrugged at the thought. "I don't have any definite plans. I think I'd like to travel at some point. My parents both travel for their work, and I'd like to have the same opportunity for whatever career path I choose."

Yuzu pushed her dinner around a little on her plate, as she watched her family interacting with Taro. A smile forming on her face at how normal this seemed. _I don't know why I was so worried. With all the dysfunctional dinners we've had in this house, this is definitely the most normal one._

 **An hour later**

Walking out of the house, Taro took Yuzu's hand as they walked out to his car. For once, he was parked on the curb outside the front of the house instead of a house or two down. "I think that went well."

"I have to agree with you," Yuzu said, laughing a little, as they stopped by his car. "It was perfect. Not at all what I was picturing, but that's a good thing."

"A very good thing," Taro agreed, before he kissed her a few times. "I have to say; I will miss being all secretive and sneaking around. It was kind of fun."

"Well..." Yuzu trailed off, as she kissed him again. "We can still sneak around here and there."

Taro smiled along with her, and after they kissed again, he finally let her go. "Alright, I have to get home."

"Text me when you get there," Yuzu said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I know you're going home to study, but you might still get a little studying done while we text."

"I have a hard time believing that." Taro replied, sharing one last look with Yuzu, before getting in his car to leave.

Walking back to the porch, Yuzu turned and waited until Taro drove away, and finally released a long sigh. _This was a good night._

* * *

 **A/N: So both Yuzu and Taro's families know that the two are officially dating, and Karin finally got to adopt her cat. Things are looking good for both sisters. What was your favorite scene?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**


	14. Happy Halloween

_Review:_

 _Taro smiled along with her, and after they kissed again, he finally let her go. "Alright, I have to get home."_

" _Text me when you get there," Yuzu said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I know you're going home to study, but you might still get a little studying done while we text."_

" _I have a hard time believing that." Taro replied, sharing one last look with Yuzu, before getting in his car to leave._

 _Walking back to the porch, Yuzu turned and waited until Taro drove away, and finally released a long sigh. This was a good night._

* * *

 **Two and a half weeks later, Friday the 28th**

Sitting down at her desk in third period, Karin turned on the computer, and focused down on her book bag. However, she hadn't even got a chance to pull out her notebook for the business/computer class, when Kimi had ran into the room, and plopped down in the seat next to her. "You do realize we have another three minutes before class starts, right? You don't have to run."

"Karin," Kimi started, having to catch her breath a little bit. "You're not going to believe this."

"What?" Karin countered, an eyebrow raised as she glanced away from the computer screen to Kimi.

"I heard some girl talking about Ryuu."

Sighing at Kimi's words, Karin looked back at the computer to log in. "Okay, well we did break up, and I really don't care to know what he's up to anymore."

"Yeah, well I think you're going to want to know this," Kimi replied, waiting for some people to pass by their desks, then she focused back on Karin. "This girl was saying that she and Ryuu had a thing, and I know that's not a big deal. But apparently this thing started back during the Summer. Like right after school ended last year."

"Well-" Karin stopped, as she realized what Kimi was saying to her. Shaking her head quickly, she turned her full attention back to Kimi. "There is no way he would do that."

Kimi hummed lowly, as she frowned. "I heard it from the girl's mouth, and she said that they started dating right after school ended."

"Kimi are you sure-" Karin broke off as more students came in the classroom, and it became impossible to have a private conversation with all the talking. Turning slowly back to face her computer, a frown formed on Karin's face.

 **Lunch**

Walking down to the first floor, Karin's eyes went down the hall to the right where Ryuu was currently putting books into his locker. Without thinking twice, she walked right over, and stopped next to him. "Did you start dating someone after school ended last year?"

Ryuu sighed, as he glanced over to her briefly. "Don't you have a boyfriend now?"

"That's not the point," Karin replied quickly. "Did you, or did you not, starting dating someone after school ended? While I was at my Summer program, and you and I were still in a relationship?"

Ryuu was quiet for a long moment, then he finally looked at her head on. "I didn't mean for it to happen."

Kind of feeling a shock to her system, Karin narrowed her eyes after a moment. "So let me get this straight. When I was on my program, you were dating someone else."

"Like I said," Ryuu started, clearly growing an uncomfortable look on his face. "I didn't mean for it to happen."

"So when I confronted you about not communicating with me, your response was to tell me that I was being over-dramatic and crazy. Meanwhile you were actually cheating on me," Karin said, as she felt a sudden burst of anger. "Are you kidding me?!"

Ryuu held up a hand and took a step back. "Does it really matter? Didn't you get together with your new boyfriend on that program?"

"I didn't start anything with him until after well after you and I were broken up you jackass!" Karin shot back angrily, as she noticed how that clearly took him aback. "Because if I did start to have feelings for someone else while you and I were dating, I would have broken up with you first, and that way I wouldn't have wasted your time!"

Ryuu's face fell a little, as he stepped back closer to her again. "Karin I-"

"I don't want to hear it!" Karin exclaimed, spinning around and returning back to the main hall. Going over to her own locker, she quickly opened the door, and started to put some books back into it.

Kimi appeared second later. "What happened? Did you talk to him?"

"Yep."

"What did he say?"

Karin hesitated in responding, as she finished with her books, and closed her locker. "Yeah, he did cheat on me."

"Oh my- Karin?" Kimi questioned, as Karin started walking past her down the hall. She turned to keep up with her. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going somewhere that isn't here." Karin replied as she walked through the front doors of the school without looking back.

 **Later that afternoon**

Letting go of Taro's hand, Yuzu opened the front door to the house, and walked in. Her eyes moved over to the couches where her dad, Orihime and Ichigo, and Toshiro sat. "Hey."

"Hey Yuzu," her dad started, his eyes going over to Taro who walked in after Yuzu. "And Taro."

"Hey, Mr. Kurosaki." Taro greeted back, his usually lopsided grin on his face, as he shut the door behind them.

Yuzu glanced to the others again. "I'm going to study, and Taro's going to be pretending to study."

Taro grinned over at her. "Hey, I'll have you know that I might actually open my textbook this time."

"I highly doubt it." Yuzu shot back, smiling at his look.

"So how was school?" Orihime asked, having adjusted Mina from where Toshiro had just passed her over.

"It was pretty boring actually." Yuzu replied, kicking off her shoes by the door, along with Taro.

That made Ichigo chuckle. "I never thought I would hear that from you."

Yuzu shrugged, as she didn't see the big deal. "Well, I mean nothing's really going on this week."

"You wouldn't happen to know where your sister is would you?" Isshin asked, motioning to his phone. "I've tried to get in touch with her, but she's not answering."

"I don't where she is." Yuzu replied, her focus going down to her own phone as she got a text from Hinata. After a moment, her eyes moved over to Toshiro. "I'm surprised you don't know where she is. You two text each other like every five seconds."

Taro chuckled hearing this. "You and I talk a lot."

"Yeah well, not as much as they do," Yuzu said, her focus going back down to her phone, as she got another text. "That would get on my nerves."

"Okay then..." Toshiro trailed off, sharing a laugh with Orihime at that one.

Taro shrugged, as he stuck his hands in his pockets. "Well, I guess I'm doing something right then."

"Yuzu," Isshin said to get her attention away from her phone. "When was the last time you saw Karin today?"

"I don't know… 2nd period I think."

Taro nodded at that. "I usually see her leaving the school after 6th period because we both have the worked based learning class at the end of the day. However, I didn't see here today. I did see her loud friend though."

"Which loud friend?" Ichigo asked, his focus going to Mina where she was moving in Orihime's arms. "There's a lot of them."

There was a quick knock on the door, it opened, and Kimi walked right in the house without waiting for them to respond.

Taro pointed in her direction. "That one."

"What? No, never mind," Kimi waved it off, and looked to the others. "Is Karin here?"

"No," Toshiro replied, then he raised an eyebrow. "What's going on? She hasn't answered anyone's texts all day?"

Opening and closing her mouth, Kimi hummed lowly in thought. "I don't know if I can tell you that."

"Okay, what does that mean?" Toshiro countered, shaking his head. "If you know where she is-"

"I just said asked you all where she is, so I obviously don't know where-"

"But you know why she's not answering anyone's text messages." Orihime interrupted Kimi.

"I'm not admitting to anything." Kimi replied, her arms crossed over her chest.

The front door opened, and Karin walked in. Dressed in her work out clothes, and her bookbag hanging over her shoulders. Closing the door harshly, she walked right past Kimi, Yuzu, and Taro to go into the kitchen. Not saying a word to anyone.

"Found her." Kimi said after a moment of silence.

"Karin," Isshin started, his eyes looking over the back of the couch towards the kitchen archway. "Come here please."

A moment of silence passed, then Karin emerged from the kitchen. Having grabbed a water, she stopped by the kitchen table where Zorro was sleeping on one of the chairs. "What?"

Karin's snappy tone had Isshin raising an eyebrow. "You want to try that again?

Taking a deep breath, Karin met her dad's eyes. "I'm sorry. I don't really feel like talking to anyone right now."

"Well I do want to talk to you right now," Isshin replied, turning more on the couch to face her. "Did you leave school early today?"

"Yes." Karin admitted immediately.

When Karin didn't say anything more, Isshin sighed. "Why did you leave school?"

"Mental health reasons." Karin said after a moment, feeling her anger start to grow again.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow in Karin's direction. "You seem angrier than anything-"

"Obviously!" Karin snapped, interrupting him, as she had squeezed her water bottle so tight that the cap exploded off of it. The spray of water that followed caused Zorro to scramble off the chair and bolt into the living room to get under the coffee table.

"Karin," Kimi started, holding a hand up in her direction. "So are we talking about it or not?"

"No," Karin said, turning to go to the stairs, but she stopped to look back at Kimi. "And I really wish you didn't tell me in the first place."

Kimi scoffed back at Karin. "Um, excuse me. If it were me in that situation, I would have wanted you to tell me… Besides if you really didn't want to know, why did you go and confront Ryuu about it in the first place?"

"Because when you told me that you found out he was cheating on me when we were dating, what the hell else was I supposed to do?" Karin shot back, then she moved the rest of the way to go upstairs. "And no, I don't want to talk about it!"

"Karin," Kimi said, following her friend up the stairs. "I know you're pissed, but I still think we need to talk about it."

After Karin and Kimi both went upstairs, it was quiet in the living room for a moment, then Yuzu laughed. "Wow, I'm surprised it took her this long to figure that out."

Isshin, still kind of unsure of what just happened, met Yuzu's eyes. "Did you know about this?"

Yuzu shrugged. "I may have heard a rumor."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Isshin countered, an eyebrow raised.

"Because it's really none of my business, and I don't want to be involved," Yuzu said, her eyes moving to Taro then. "Let's go study out on the back porch."

Once sitting down at the table on the back porch, Taro raised an eyebrow in Yuzu's direction. "So you knew that about your sister's ex-boyfriend, and didn't say anything to her?"

"Look I heard a rumor and didn't think much of it. I thought about mentioning it to Karin, but that was before we got in an argument over something I can't remember," Yuzu said, sighing at Taro's continued raised eyebrow. "I feel bad for her, but it's not like she doesn't have a great relationship now. She shouldn't focus on the past, and just what's in the present."

Taro hummed but finally lost the raised eyebrow. "I guess that's true. I think I met Ryuu once, but he didn't seem like that bad of a guy."

"Well, he wasn't at first. I remember when Karin first introduced us to him, and he was a total gentleman. He had so much in common with her, and it just seemed like it was a perfect fit."

"I mean it sounds like he just made the one mistake-"

"Yeah, a really big stupid mistake," Yuzu interrupted him but took a breath to soothe the sudden irritation that flooded up. "Regardless of if he was seemingly the perfect guy, cheating is not okay. If he was really a good guy, he should have broken up with Karin as soon as he realized he was attracted to someone else. Instead, he strung her along for weeks, until she broke up with him."

Taro was quiet for a moment, then he grinned. "I see."

"What?"

"To your sister and family's faces you act like you don't really care about what's happening in her life, but you really do."

Yuzu raised an eyebrow back at Taro this time. "You got that from me thinking that her ex-boyfriend cheating on her was a bad thing?"

"Yes, but don't worry," Taro said, leaning over to kiss her cheek. "Your secret is safe with me."

Breaking out into a smile as her eyes kept Taro's, she finally looked away. "Let's change the subject."

 **Karin's room, twenty minutes later**

"I ran nearly ten miles today just to let out my anger." Karin said, as she grabbed her comb off her desk and started combing through her wet hair. Having just taken a quick shower to clean up after her run.

Kimi hummed lowly from where she was laying back on Karin's bed, her eyes watching Karin harshly yanking the comb to get through some tangles in her hair, and she hummed lowly. "I don't think you let it all out apparently… Anyway, you don't really need to worry about it. You're in a great relationship now. If Ryuu didn't do what he did, then you might not have gotten together with Toshiro."

"I guess…" Karin trailed off, as she finished with her hair and moved over to sit on her bed as well. "It still doesn't make me feel better."

"Well I mean I can go find out who this girl really is, and go put something gross in her locker."

"Kimi, we're not in middle school anymore, and that's kind of juvenile."

Kimi rolled her eyes at that. "Well I could go find the bitch and punch her in the face if you want, but that'll probably lead to me getting suspended. I thought the locker thing was safer."

"Absolutely not."

"I was just trying to cheer you up."

Karin sighed heavily, as she leaned back on her pillows. Trying to pull her wet hair up and away from touching her pillows. "I know and I appreciate it. I'm sorry I snapped at you when I first came home. I do appreciate you telling me. I just kind of feel stupid for not knowing, and it's fueling the anger."

"You're not stupid," Kimi said, pointing in Karin's direction. "Ryuu is the stupid one. You're a solid 10, and he missed out. It's his loss."

There was a knock on the door, and Karin sighed heavily as she looked to Kimi. "If it's someone I'm related to, pretend to die so I can escape out the window."

"Will do," Kimi said, getting up from Karin's bed and going to the door. Opening it to meet turquoise eyes, she glanced back at Karin who had brought one of her pillows to cover her face. "It's the boyfriend. Does that count?"

"No." Was Karin's muffled sounding reply.

"What does that mean?" Toshiro asked, an eyebrow raised at Kimi.

"Nothing," Kimi replied, her eyes going back to Karin's direction. "I'm going to leave. My brother is waiting for me outside."

"You made your brother sit outside for nearly thirty minutes." Toshiro deadpanned.

"He's in his car so it's fine," Kimi waved it off, then grabbed her bag to slip on her shoulders. "Karin, I will see you tomorrow to go Halloween shopping before our shift starts at work. So try to get happy before then."

"Okay." Karin said, still sounding muffled from the pillow.

Waiting until after Kimi left, Toshiro moved over to sit on Karin's bed. Watching her in silence for a moment, he finally sighed. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really," Karin replied but finally moved the pillow from her face. "I'm sorry that I am bringing this whole thing up. It shouldn't bother me, but it just does… And it's not like I have feelings for Ryuu or anything either. It's just… Ryuu cheated on me, and I had no idea until today. It's kind of humiliating."

Toshiro reached over to rest on her knee. "That's understandable."

"Honestly, I think what is really bothering me is that I knew that something was going on during the program. When he wasn't making any effort to talk to me. Then when I confront him about it, he told me that I was just overreacting and made me feel like I was crazy for thinking something was going on..." Karin trailed off, as she looked down at her hands where she was messing with the pop socket on her phone. "Come to find out I was right because he was cheating on me."

Staying quiet for a moment, Toshiro finally sighed. "You know, when all this happened over the program, I could tell it kind of affected you. You knew something was going on, and Ryuu was telling you it was nothing. That's pretty messed up."

"I know. As much as I don't really like to talk about my emotions and stuff, I think that whole situation kind of screwed me up for a while. When you and I first started seeing each other, I felt like if I so much as said that I missed you after not seeing you for a few days that I was crazy."

"I noticed that," Toshiro said, then he moved a little closer so he could caress her cheek. "Just so we're on the same page; I never thought you were crazy. Because I missed you almost as soon as we parted ways. Which is completely normal if you really care about the other person."

That finally brought a smile to Karin's face, as he took one of her hands. "I'm really glad that you're in my life. It feels good knowing that you care about me as much as I care about you."

Toshiro leaned over and kissed her once. "And there's no doubt about that."

 **The next day, the 30th**

"So yeah that was yesterday's drama." Yuzu said, finishing up telling Hinata what happened with Karin finding out about her ex-boyfriend cheating on her.

"Wow..." Hinata trailed off, as they walked into the costume shop and started down one of the many aisles of Halloween costumes. "At least she's in a better relationship now."

"Exactly! I don't know why it's such a big deal when it's about her ex-boyfriend," Yuzu agreed, her eyes going to the many costumes on shelves. "What are we going to wear?"

"I think I'm going to keep it pretty simple as a witch or-" Kimi broke off, as they turned down a new aisle and she motioned to a costume. "Or a playboy bunny."

Yuzu laughed at that. "I highly doubt your parents are going to let you walk out of the house in that."

Hinata winked back at her. "Who says they are going to see my Halloween costume in the first place?… You're right though. If they did manage to see me in this, they would disown me faster than I could say 'sorry'."

"In the past, I would dress up as a princess or a doctor a few times. But I feel like this year needs to be different."

"Of course it does. It's not like we're going trick or treating. We're going to a party."

"And we're also dating," Yuzu added, as they walked down another aisle with more costumes that were suited for them. "Are you going to lean towards something a little bit sexier?"

"Well, like you pointed out, I think we're a bit too young and too under the control of our parental figures to do anything too scandalous," Hinata replied, shuffling through some of the costumes. "My mom and I talked about it, and she said that I'm fifteen and I can explore a bit more in picking out my costumes if I wanted."

Taking a costume off the shelf to look closer, Yuzu sighed. "I highly doubt my dad would be as chill."

"Well, you did lose your virginity and had a pregnancy scare at fifteen." Hinata pointed out. "How would this be worse?"

Yuzu laughed at that. "True, but then he might be thinking I'm going to go out and have sex again."

"But yet he trusts your sister to go and sleepover at her older boyfriends apartment." Hinata shot back, grinning as they made Yuzu laugh again.

"That's because they have an 'open and honest' conversation about it."

"Then why don't you do the same, and get you some more freedom with your own boyfriend?" Hinata asked, picking up another a costume from the shelf.

"Because I don't want to, and I don't really feel like I should have to. It's my business… Plus I don't really have any plans to have sex again anytime soon," Yuzu replied, her eyes going to the costume Hinata pulled from the shelf, and she raised an eyebrow. "Are you planning on having sex soon?"

Hinata laughed as Yuzu motioned to the lace see-through corset on the witch costume she was holding. "No, but it's nice to give a little tease to Yukio every now and then."

"Well, that costume would certainly do that." Yuzu said, sighing as her eyes went to the wall of costumes. _What do I want to be?_

 **The next day, October 31st, Halloween**

"Oh, that's cute." Orihime said, eying the cupcake was currently frosting a pumpkin on top.

Karin offered Orihime a smile, as she remained focused on frosting the cupcake. They had been over at Rin's house for nearly an hour to prepare for the little party Rin was throwing for Raya and her friends from pre-school, and a handful of their siblings.

"Karin's just full of ideas for this," Rin said, waving her hand to the decorations around them. "A lot of these are her ideas, and she had the cute idea for the kids to have a pumpkin carving activity for them. Well at least the kids will make the designs and pull out all the seeds, and the adults will be carving them for them."

"I'm kind of sad that I'll be missing it," Karin said, putting the finished cupcake down, and picking up a new one. "Make sure to take a bunch of pictures."

The front door of the house was heard opening, then Mai, Hikari, and Emi appeared in the kitchen. Mai sighed heavily. "Traffic was _lovely_."

Hikari chuckled at Mai's sarcasm. "But you just handle it so well. You only yelled at half the drivers."

"Karin!" Emi exclaimed, reaching over for Karin from her dad's arms.

Karin put down the icing tube she was holding and she reached over for Emi, and then held up a little of the icing. "Emi does this taste good?"

After Emi tasted the icing, she giggled. "Yummy!"

"Just checking." Karin said before she handed Emi over to Orihime, who Emi had been reaching for.

"Where's her costume?" Orihime asked, after settling Emi in her arms and smiling at the little toddler.

Mai sighed, and sat down in one of the kitchen chairs. "I'm going to change her in it right before the party. That way it'll be less time for her to get it dirty."

"I know how that is," Orihime agreed with a laugh. "We brought two costumes and one extra onesie for Mina because we know she'll probably get them messy."

The back door opened and in came Kei, Ichigo, Isshin, and Toshiro. Raya also came inside, but she had immediately ran over to where Orihime was holding Emi to greet the toddler.

Ichigo had stepped forward to shake Hikari's hand right away. "We were wondering where you two were, as you were supposed to be here a while go."

"Traffic." Was all Hikari said, as they laughed.

Yuzu, who had been holding Mina over at the kitchen table, turned to face her dad right away. "So dad, is it possible that we could get an extension on our curfew tonight?"

Isshin grew a smirk on his face, as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I was wondering when one of you two would bring that up."

Karin cleared her throat at that. "I don't really care if we get an extension or not-"

"Shhh," Yuzu interrupted Karin, as she adjusted Mina a little in her arms. "It's a holiday, but it's really like the same situation like when we go to football games on Fridays, and just want to spend more time with our friends afterward."

"Yeah except, in this case, you're going to a Halloween party," Isshin replied, an eyebrow raised. "I know there will probably be drinking going on-"

"Dad, I'm just going to hang out with my friends." Yuzu interrupted, waving off his raised eyebrow.

"Ha, that's funny." Karin mumbled, getting the others attention. Isshin's eyebrow raised up again, and Yuzu glared darkly at her sister.

Yuzu quickly shook it off and smiled back at her dad. "Dad, it'll be fine. I'm going with Taro and our friends, and we'll be perfectly safe"

Isshin was quiet for a moment before finally, he sighed. "You and your sister need to be home by midnight-"

"Awesome," Yuzu interrupted, as she quickly got up with Mina still in her arms. "I have to go tell Hinata."

It wasn't until after Yuzu left out on the back porch that Karin offered a very sarcastic smile to her dad. " _Awesome_."

While that made the others laugh, Raya moved to Karin and took her free hand. "Want to come to see the pumpkins we got?"

"Alright, I could use a break," Karin said, setting the tube of icing down, then reaching over for Emi. "Come on Emi, let's go see the pumpkins with Raya."

Before Karin could walk out the back door, Toshiro met her eyes. "Are we really staying out to midnight?"

Karin shook her head almost immediately. "Absolutely not."

Toshiro smirked at that and nodded once. "Glad we're on the same page."

 **Later that evening, at 8 o'clock**

"I can't believe you two made it." Karin said, leaning over to hug both Rose and Naomi."

"Well, it's only a little over an hour drive from where we live by Windsworth." Naomi replied, hugging Karin back.

"I know, but sometimes it feels like you two are forever away." Kimi added into the conversation, as she also hugged Rose and Naomi.

Rose glanced over at the house the party was at. "Well, we were definitely going to make the drive for this. There's always better parties in Karakura Town."

"Let's all get a picture together." Karin said, handing her phone over to Toshiro.

"I knew there was a reason why I need to come tonight." Toshiro said, smirking as that made the others laugh.

Karin, however, just smirked back at him. "And here I thought you wanted to spend time with me."

Toshiro chuckled. "Okay, so there are two reasons."

Rose smiled at the two's interaction. "Aw, it is so nice that you two are finally in a relationship."

"I know." Naomi agreed, as they girls moved so they could stand next to each other.

Toshiro met Karin's eyes after taking a couple of pictures. "They know we've been dating for almost four months right?"

"Yes, of course, they do." Karin replied, then she smiled for another couple of photos.

"I mean," Naomi started, as they finished up with the pictures. "It's just new for Rose and me, because we haven't really got to see you two in person while being in a relationship… Back at the program you two were just flirting with each other all the time."

Kimi laughed at that. "Trust me, I'm surprised it took them so long to actually make it official."

"Okay," Karin said after the other girls laughed. "Enough about my relationship. Let's go inside."

 **Two hours later, 10:00 p.m.**

"Are you ready to leave?" Karin asked, her eyes meeting Toshiro's turquoise ones.

"I thought you would never ask."

Karin laughed at Toshiro's over-dramatic tone, and they moved to go outside after the others. When they got on the front porch, they found Yuzu and her friends sitting out there. "Yuzu, we're leaving."

"What?" Yuzu countered, an eyebrow raised at her sister. "You're leaving? Our curfew isn't for another two hours."

"I know, but we want to go grab something to eat, and it's getting pretty crowded over here." Karin replied, eying the red solo cup in Yuzu's hand.

"Well have fun with that I guess." Yuzu replied before bringing her cup back to her lips for a drink.

Watching Yuzu take a very long drink from her cup, Karin frowned. "Take it easy with the drinking, okay?"

Yuzu laughed sarcastically. "Karin, don't tell me what to do. I'm fine. I've gotten really good at this."

"I bet you have." Karin replied, turning to face Toshiro before she sighed.

Toshiro could see behind the irritated expression on Karin's face, and see the concern in her eyes. "Do you want to stay?"

"No," Karin said, turning back to face Yuzu. "Okay, well dad will probably still be awake when you get home, and if you come home smelling like alcohol or drunk-"

"Would you relax?" Yuzu interrupted her sister, as she sighed heavily. "You're being so annoying. I'm fine. Stop worrying about me."

Taro, noticing Karin's frown, cleared his throat here. "Really Karin, I'm not drinking more than a beer tonight. I'll make sure she gets home safe."

"Okay," Karin said, turning to leave down the steps with Toshiro. She took a deep breath and sighed heavily as they walked out to his car. "Yuzu can be a handful sometimes."

"You're just concerned for her, and I don't think she understands that," Toshiro replied, as they caught up to the others. "I can take three other people in my car."

"Okay, well me, Kimi and her date can go with you two then." Natsuki said, motioning for Kimi and her date to come with them.

"We'll meet you guys there!" Naomi called over from where she was getting into a car with Rose and their dates.

Once Karin got into Toshiro's car, she put on her seatbelt and found herself looking back at the house where there was a ton of people everywhere. Yuzu and her friends must have gone inside, as they were no longer on the porch.

Toshiro started up the car, and noticed Karin's attention was focused on the house. Reaching over, he rested his hand on hers and got her to look at him. After holding her gaze for a moment, he noticed that her eyes finally softened, and he finally looked away to start driving.

 **Back at the party, a half hour later**

"Woohoo!" Yuzu exclaimed, happily jumping up and down after successfully winning the beer pong game. She high-fived Hinata then smirked across the table where Taro and Yukio were. They had been playing on the tables set up down in the basement for the last half hour. "I told you. Hinata and I are unstoppable."

"I definitely think I saw you two cheating." Yukio replied, as he walked around the table towards them.

Hinata smiled as the way Yukio moved showed he was getting a little tipsy. "By the time you get home, you better hope your parents are asleep."

"I'm fine babe." Yukio said, then they kissed.

Yuzu shook her head at how open Hinata and Yukio were and didn't really care that much about PDA.

"Hey Yuzu," Taro said, as he had walked over to her. "This will probably be my only game. With us losing as badly as we were, I think I might have drank more than I should have. I'm the one who's supposed to be driving us home after all."

"You really didn't have that much," Yuzu started, but smiled at his raised eyebrow. "But you're probably right."

Taro glanced over to the others. "Hey guys, we're probably going to go grab something to eat upstairs."

"Oh okay," Kimi said, her eyes moving over to Shin and his girlfriend, Suki. "Do you two want to play?"

"Yeah sure." Suki replied, moving over from where they were sitting on the couch.

Yuzu took Taro's hand, as they went upstairs to the main floor of the house. "Wow, it got more crowded up here."

"Yeah, just stay close to me," Taro said, making a path for them to get to the kitchen. Once in there, it was a little less crowded, and he turned to her. "It's not like I'm worried about driving later. I have a higher tolerance for alcohol, but I still don't want to take any chances. Especially after I told your sister that I wasn't going to be drinking that much tonight."

"It's fine Taro. We still have an hour and a half before I go home. I mean, my house is only fifteen minutes away. We could walk if we had to."

Taro grew his lopsided grin on his face, as Yuzu kind of half stumbled over her own feet. "Well, I might be the one doing the walking and carrying you there. You've had a lot of beer tonight."

"You're not wrong," Yuzu said, laughing along with him. "You know people might mistake us for trick or treaters, but I like candy so it's fine."

"I know. You've been snacking on candy all night." Taro pointed out, grinning, as they moved over to the food.

Yuzu reached for the big bowl of candy first, and grabbed a Butterfinger out of it. "I have a major sweet tooth."

"Well I'm going to get some actual food," Taro said, his eyes glancing back to her. "You might want to get some too, because you've probably had twice as much to drink tonight as I have."

"You're not wrong." Yuzu said, popping the Butterfinger in her mouth, then she grabbed a plate. However, she grabbed another piece of candy before moving onto the actual food. Smiling as she noticed Taro laughing and shaking his head.

 **Eleven o'clock**

Walking inside the house, Karin sighed happily, as Bingo jumped up and greeted her. "I've never been so happy to be home. Toshiro was driving so slowly on the way here."

"Hi, Toshiro here," Toshiro started, walking inside after her, and shutting the door. "I was driving slowly as to not accidentally hit any of the kids still out trick or treating."

Karin laughed shortly, as she kicked off her shoes. "Okay well if they were in the road and you happened to run them over, that would be their fault."

Toshiro smirked back at Karin, and the others laugh. Orihime being the first to stop. "Yes Toshiro, why didn't you just simply run over all the innocent children?"

"Ha ha." Karin shot back, sticking out her tongue at the others laughing at her.

"You know," Isshin started after he stopped laughing. "I wasn't expecting to see you two for another hour. Wasn't that the point of me extending yours and your sister's curfew?"

Karin shrugged back at her dad. "Yuzu was the one who asked for that. I did not. We only stayed at the party for barely two hours, before it got really crowded. Then we went to go grab some food with my friends."

"I didn't mind leaving early, because I'm not really the party type," Toshiro added, also having slipped off his shoes at the door. His eyes moved to Karin, and he grinned. "And neither are you. Why did we go again?"

"I am a little bit… I just don't really care much about it. I'd rather spend time with my friends, and not with a bunch of strangers," Karin replied, then she leaned over to look at Mina, who was asleep in her rocker sleeper. "How was the Halloween party with the kiddos?"

"Oh it was so great," Orihime started, holding up her phone. "I've got tons of photos, and will happy to show you."

"We're staying the night over here," Ichigo said, motioning to the fact that both he and Orihime were wearing pajama pants. "So we're not leaving anytime soon. I say that because she's not kidding about the "tons" of photos."

Isshin clearing his throat got them to look at them. "Did you see your sister at all?"

Karin shrugged at that. "Before we left. She seemed to be having fun."

"You two didn't hang out at all?" Isshin asked.

Scoffing at that, Karin focused back on Bingo who wanted some attention now that she was giving some to Mina. "No. I don't really know any of her friends, and she doesn't know any of mine. Why would we hang out?"

"What was I thinking?" Isshin countered, a smirk on his face. "Sisters who are the same age, hanging out with each other. That's just completely crazy."

While that made the others laugh, Karin just smirked and moved to the stairs. "I'm going to change, then I guess we can watch-" She broke off to look at the paused TV. "Whatever movie this is."

"Me too," Toshiro said, as he motioned to his costume. "As much as I pull this whole vampire thing off; it's really not really my style."

Karin laughed. "I liked it."

"I know, and that is the only reason why I am wearing it."

Motioning to her own vampire cape, Karin smirked. "Well, we had to match after all."

Toshiro mumbled something but smirked as they both went upstairs to change. Him stopping at the bathroom to change, and Karin going a little further down to her bedroom. It only took him a few minutes, before he was going back down the stairs in much more comfortable sweatpants and a t-shirt.

"So," Orihime started, her eyes going to him as he sat down on the third available couch. "How was it really?"

Toshiro raised an eyebrow back at her. "How was what?"

"The party," Orihime said, as if it was obvious. "How did it really go?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Toshiro leaned back against the couch. "Well, I obviously went because Karin wanted to, but it wasn't really that bad. I've gotten to know a lot of her friends over the football games and dinners over the last few weeks. Plus, two of her best friends from the music program showed up, and that was entertainment on its own seeming them, Karin, and Kimi back together again."

"I hear some of their conversations on the phone," Isshin said, shaking his head. "I can barely understand what they are saying half the time."

"I can barely understand what they are talking about ever." Ichigo added, making the others laugh.

Karin walking down the stairs got their attention again, and she had Zorro in her arms. Her eyes going to the others, as she sat down on the couch next to Toshiro. "What's funny?"

Toshiro reached over and rested his hand down on her knee. "Nothing. Ready to watch the movie now? It took you forever to get down here."

"Um excuse me," Karin said, motioning to her face. "Unlike you, I had my makeup to take off."

"I don't believe that for a second. You were texting Rose, Naomi, and Kimi." Toshiro shot back, smirking as she had immediately looked away from him, and focused down on Zorro.

Karin just reached over for the remote and pressed play. "Let's just watch this movie."

 **Midnight**

Smiling after their kiss broke, Yuzu's eyes met Taro's. "Are you sure you're okay to drive home?"

"Of course, I wouldn't have got behind the wheel of the car tonight if I wasn't," Taro replied, then he kissed her again.

When their kiss broke after a moment, Yuzu moved to get out of the car. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight Yuzu."

Smiling back at Taro, Yuzu waited until he drove away, before turning to go inside her house. Once inside, she barely glanced at the others, as she slipped off her shoes.

"It's ten past your curfew." Isshin pointed out, an eyebrow raised in her direction.

"I was right outside the house with Taro." Yuzu replied, grabbing her shoes, and trying to keep Bingo from jumping up on her.

"How was the party Yuzu?" Orihime asked, a sleeping Mina resting on her chest.

Yuzu smiled at that. "It was actually pretty great."

"So why didn't Taro come inside with you?" Isshin asked, watching Yuzu as she had seemed to waiver a little as she leaned over to pet Bingo.

"He has a curfew too dad," Yuzu said, then her eyes moved over to where Karin and Toshiro were and focused on Karin. "Not that you have to worry about that."

Karin rolled her eyes, then sent a glare her sister's way. "Why are you starting with me? If this is about what I said, before we left the party, I was just looking out for you."

"Nobody asked you to." Yuzu shot back.

"Was Taro drinking?" Isshin asked.

"No!"

Yuzu's immediate response had Isshin crossing his arms, and shaking his head. "Yuzu, I'm not stupid. I know what goes on at parties like that."

"Dad, he had like one beer the entire night, and he was drinking water and eating. He was fine." Yuzu replied, starting to inch her way to the stairs to try to get out of questioning.

"And how much did you have?" Isshin questioned, having got a strong smell of alcohol coming off of her. "I can smell it on you."

"Told you." Karin said, smirking at the glare Yuzu sent her way.

"Shut up," Yuzu shot back, then she looked to her dad. "What is this? 20 freaking questions? So what if I was drinking?! Karin was drinking too, and you're not giving her the third degree-"

"I had one beer, and I told dad already," Karin interrupted, her smirk growing at her sister. "That's more than I can say for you."

"You are so annoying." Yuzu bit back, then she went to the stairs and started up them. It wasn't until she was in her room, that she took a deep breath to try to relax. Changing out of her costume and into pajamas took a little bit more effort, as the world was kind of moving in her eyes. After getting the task done, she climbed into bed, and let her head fall back against her pillows. She stayed like that for a long time, and it wasn't until her phone buzzed next to her on the pillow that she moved to look at it.

 _Taro: Made it home. Hope you sleep good Yuzu._

Smiling at the text, Yuzu texted back that she hoped he slept good too, then set her phone down. Turning onto her side, she sighed and closed her eyes. _It was a very happy Halloween._

* * *

 **A/N: And that's it for the Halloween chapter. I really enjoyed writing this one, and a lot happened. We finally learn why Ryuu all of a sudden stopped talking to Karin back during her music program, and Karin and Toshiro have a cute moment talking about it all. What was your favorite scene?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**


	15. Toshiro's Friends

_Review:_

 _After getting the task done, she climbed into bed, and let her head fall back against her pillows. She stayed like that for a long time, and it wasn't until her phone buzzed next to her on the pillow that she moved to look at it._

 _Taro: Made it home. Hope you sleep good Yuzu._

 _Smiling at the text, Yuzu texted back that she hoped he slept good too, then set her phone down. Turning onto her side, she sighed and closed her eyes. It was a very happy Halloween._

* * *

 **Two weeks later, November 11th**

Walking into the electronics store, Yuzu's eyes moved right to the counter to see Taro. Waiting until the customer that was checking out was gone, she walked over, and smiled as Taro hadn't yet noticed her. "Hi, could you help me?"

Taro turned to meet her eyes, and smiled at her. Looking around for his manager first, Taro leaned over the counter to kiss her. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I was hanging out with my friends for a few hours. Then Yukio and Hinata went on a date, Shin had to go home to look after his little sister, and I was left alone..." Yuzu trailed off, as she rested her elbows on the counter. "I know you get off in half an hour, and I wanted to see if you might want to go to dinner with me?"

"Isn't your curfew at ten?" Taro asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Normally yes but I told my dad that I was going to the football game, and he extended it to eleven."

"That's very sneaky of you." Taro said, smiling at the mischievous look in her eyes.

The bell rang as another customer walked in the store, and Yuzu straightened up. "I'll wait for you to get off."

Taro's smile lessened. "That won't be until nine thirty."

"Don't worry," Yuzu said, motioning to the store. "I'll just look around and learn about electronic things. Try not to get too distracted."

Taro chuckled at that last part, as he and Yuzu shared a look and a smile.

 **At the high school's football game**

Sipping at her hot chocolate, Karin followed Toshiro up the stairs to their seats on the bleachers. They had to take a break from watching the game to go grab some hot chocolates from the concession stands. "This hot chocolate is so great right now."

"I agree," Toshiro said, sipping his own hot chocolate, as they sat down in their seats. "These football games have been fun and all, but I'm kind of glad this is going to be the last game."

"I know. I don't think I could handle another Friday night in the cold," Karin said, pulling the blanket they had brought back over their laps. "I'm also glad you brought this blanket with us, because my jeans aren't very warm."

"Well, I figured you'd want it." Toshiro said, just as their friends came back from also having grabbed some hot chocolate.

Natsuki sighed heavily, as she sat back in her seat. "I can't wait for this game to be over, and then we can go grab food from somewhere that is indoors."

"I agree," Kohaku said, as he wrapped an arm around Natsuki. "However, I'm more excited about the food than the warmth at this point."

"Where are we going to eat tonight?" Kimi asked, slipping her gloves back on, then she picked up her hot chocolate again.

"Rocky's," Sara started, then she hummed. "Or there is that new Mexican place, La Bamba."

"Oh let's go there. I love Rocky's to death, but I would love some chips and salsa." Karin replied, already thinking of the yummy Mexican food.

"Don't forget the queso dip," Toshiro added, a smirk on his face, as he looked to Karin. "You usually eat so much chips, salsa, and queso that you never actually eat more than half of your entree."

Karin laughed along with the others there. Her eyes moving to the scoreboard, and she laughed. "Look, we're finally in the fourth quarter. We're getting so close to finally being able to get out of this cold air."

As the focus went back to the game, Toshiro slipped his arm around Karin, and a smile formed slowly on his face. _I probably wouldn't have ever found myself at a high school football game before I met Karin, but I've enjoyed being able to spend almost every Friday for the past couple months with her. I guess we'll find something else to do together on Friday's now._

 **Yuzu and Taro dinner**

"I am so glad you found this place. It's absolutely amazing." Yuzu said, taking a spoonful of soup, as she eyed the small restaurant they were in. It was a little place near the big bridge called Chiyo's.

"I'm honestly just surprised that I even found this place. From the outside, you would have no idea it's a restaurant, but there's always a bunch of cars in the parking lot," Taro replied, after swallowing the food in his mouth. "So, have you thought about going to that party tomorrow night?"

Yuzu shrugged after finishing her soup, and she switched to finish her salad. "I was thinking about it, why?"

Taro cleared his throat, as he reached for his water. "Well, I was wondering if that maybe afterward, you could come over to my house, and, you know, spend the night."

Pausing before she could eat the salad she had on her fork, Yuzu raised an eyebrow. "What about your parents? We've talked about this, and you said your parents probably wouldn't be okay with me sleeping over at your place."

That brought a grin to Taro's face. "Yeah, they normally wouldn't be, but they won't be there. They are going to visit my aunt tomorrow, and they won't be back until Sunday evening."

"Wouldn't you normally go with them?"

"Yeah, but I have to work the first half of the day. So I can't go this time."

Yuzu was quiet for a moment, as she took the last bite of salad. "I guess I can do that. I'll just tell my dad that I'm staying over at Hinata's."

"Wouldn't your dad be okay with it?" Taro asked, an eyebrow raised. "Doesn't he let your sister sleepover at her boyfriend's apartment?"

Sighing at that, Yuzu leaned back against her chair. "If I asked my dad, he'd want to talk to your parents to make sure it is okay. My sister's boyfriend is old enough to live on his own, and he doesn't have parents for my dad to ask. So Karin doesn't have to worry about that."

Taro shrugged after a moment. "Well as long as Hinata is cool with covering for you."

"I'm sure she would be fine with it. I'd do the same for her in a heartbeat," Yuzu said, her eyes going to the check that the waitress just sat down, and frowned at Taro already taking it. "I don't mind paying."

"I know you don't, but it's my turn. You paid for my movie ticket last weekend." Taro said, winking in Yuzu's direction, as he handed the check and his card over to the waitress.

After the waitress returned a couple minutes later, they got up and started to the door. Yuzu already shivering, as it got much colder at the door. "We might have to run to the car."

"I'll go ahead and unlock it now then," Taro said, hitting the unlock button on his keys, then they left outside. As soon as they got in his car, he turned it on to start heating it up. "Okay, it's much colder in here."

"I know. It's freezing," Yuzu agreed, as she slipped her hands under her thighs to try to warm them. After a moment of silence, she glanced in Taro's direction. "If I do spend the night tomorrow night… I just don't want there to be any misunderstandings. I'm still not ready to have sex again."

Taro's eyes kind of widen, as he met hers. "Oh no, that's not what I meant by asking you to spend the night. I just wanted to spend the night with you. Like we did back at the program. I know you're not ready, and I'm okay with that."

Smiling at that, Yuzu nodded once. "Okay… We should probably get started going home. I want to make sure I'm home by curfew so my dad won't question me."

"We still have half an hour, and your house is only twenty minutes away without the usual traffic." Taro pointed out, an eyebrow raised.

"I know," Yuzu said, putting on her seat belt. "But, I am planning on making out with you in the car for at least five minutes."

Taro grinned, as he put the car in reverse to get out of the parking spot. "Alright then, let's go ASAP."

 **A little after 11 p.m.**

"Oh my god. It's freezing!" Karin half-exclaimed, as they walked into Toshiro's apartment.

"I know." Toshiro said, adjusting the thermostat so the heat would come on, then turning to lock the front door. He turned back to see Karin gone from the living room, and he walked back to his bedroom to see her rifling through her bag.

Pulling out her pajamas for the night, Karin moved over to the bathroom. "I'm changing, then I'm getting into bed immediately."

"Shall I make popcorn, and get The Office pulled up on Netflix?"

"Of course." Karin replied, then she moved into the bathroom. After taking a couple minutes to take the layers of clothes she had worn that night off, she slipped on a maroon long sleeved nightgown. She started to take off her makeup and glanced down at a text on her phone from her dad telling her goodnight. She had asked her dad if she could stay the night over here after the game, and he had agreed as long as they didn't stay out too late. Which they didn't, because as soon as they finished eating with her friends, they immediately went back to his apartment since it was so cold out. Finishing up taking off her makeup, Karin left the bathroom and dropped her clothes from that day into her bag.

Toshiro walked in with the popcorn but stopped at the foot of the bed. His eyes on her, as she had been plugging her phone up to the charger. More specifically, his eyes were on her nightgown. "That's different."

Noticing what Toshiro was looking at, Karin shrugged, as she accepted the bowl of popcorn from Toshiro. "It's colder out."

"Well I like it," Toshiro told her, noticing that made her smile. "I'm going to change now. Don't eat all the popcorn while I'm gone."

"We'll see," Karin said, setting the popcorn bowl down on the bed, then she went to the kitchen to get them something drink. She returned just as Toshiro was back out of the bathroom, and getting into bed. She handed over his drink, then joined in bed. Snuggling up against him, as she took some popcorn. "Tonight was fun."

"Aside from it being near freezing the last half hour of the game, I would agree with that," Toshiro said, whistling lowly. "I was glad it was the last game though."

Karin sighed at that. "It's been nice having something to do towards the end of the week though. We don't always get to see each other during the week that much, and it's been nice looking forward to having a full evening each week where I got to hang out with my friends and you has been nice."

"I've enjoyed it too," Toshiro agreed, as they kissed. "It'd be kind of nice if we'd maybe hang out with my friends sometimes too. Not that I don't mind hanging out with yours."

"Yeah, of course, we can do that," Karin frowned. "I didn't realize that all we did was hang out with my friends. I didn't mean for-"

"It's not that big of a deal Karin," Toshiro interrupted her quickly. "I just never asked if you wanted to. First, it was because I figured Ichigo was still unsure about us being together… Then, it was just never a convenient time."

Karin met Toshiro's eyes and smiled. "Well regardless on how my brother feels; I would like to hang out with your friends. I know most of them a little bit."

"Alright," Toshiro said, reaching over to tuck her hair back behind her ear. "Well, I guess we'll have something to do at the end of the weeks now."

"As long as it is mostly indoors from now until about late March, then it'll be great." Karin added, making them both laugh. She reached over and hit play on the next episode of The Office, then she rested her head on Toshiro's chest and sighed. _This is a perfect way to end the day. I love having these moments together._

 **The next morning**

"So I can cover for you tonight… Wow, it's just like back at the art program." Hinata said, looking over from her painting to Yuzu. They were at the art studio and finishing work on their art projects that were due next week.

Yuzu smirked at that. "Yeah, except back at the art program, I didn't have to worry about sneaking around, as I didn't have to ask my dad's permission first."

"Wouldn't he be okay with it?" Hinata asked, an eyebrow raised. "I mean he lets Karin sleepover at her boyfriend's apartment. Like just the two of them."

"I actually had this conversation with Taro last night, but it's really just a different situation," Yuzu replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Taro's parents are involved, while Toshiro doesn't have parents. He's an adult, who can live on his own. Taro, on the other hand, still has to go by what his parents say. He doesn't think his parents would be okay with the idea of me sleeping over there, or him sleeping over at my house."

Hinata laughed after a moment. "That's so unfair. How did Karin get so lucky with her boyfriend?"

Yuzu sighed and shook her head. "I don't know. She has all this freedom but doesn't even really take advantage of it. My dad lets her sleepover at her boyfriend's apartment, but half the time they still hang out in our house with everyone around and only occasionally sleepover at his apartment."

"Really? If my parents would let me sleepover at Yukio's, then I would be over there practically every chance I got." Hinata replied with a laugh.

"I know. Over the art program, I loved spending the night over at Taro's..." Yuzu trailed off, then she glanced back to Hinata. "I'm done with my painting, you?"

"Hold on one second," Hinata said, taking a finale couple strokes with her paintbrush, then she hummed. "Done. This masterpiece needs to dry."

Yuzu and Hinata took their paintings over to the rack to dry, cleaned up their brushes, then grabbed their coats to put on. "Let's go get Italian."

"Sounds good to me. I need some pasta with a whole lot of cheese," Hinata replied, pausing at the door to look at Yuzu. "I'll get a salad too, and that way I can at least pretend I try to eat healthy."

Yuzu laughed, as she opened the door for them. "Same."

 **Noon, at the store**

"Okay, so we are on the same page that I don't really need a whole new set of kitchen appliances, and I am only getting what is on my very short list. Right Karin?"

Meeting Toshiro's eyes, Karin shrugged. "We'll see..." she trailed off and laughed at Toshiro's raised eyebrow. Standing on her tiptoes, she kissed him on the cheek. "Alright, you need a crock pot, and some better bowls for soup."

"Even though the bowls I already have are fine, but apparently not in your eyes," Toshiro said, chuckling as Karin stuck at her tongue at him, as she looked over at the bowls. Focusing over on the shelf, he picked up one of the boxes off the shelf. "This is the one I looked at online, and I think it'll work nicely."

"Great," Karin said, re-appearing back beside him with a stack of bowls with colorful leaves on them. "I found the perfect bowls."

Toshiro raised an eyebrow, as he put the box with the crock pot in it, in the cart. "Why not plain white or black bowls?"

"Because these are more festive," Karin said, noticing his look, she laughed. "And they seem sturdy."

"Right." Toshiro chuckled at her adding that last part, as he took the bowls from her to set them in the cart.

"Oh yeah, I wanted to go pick up some new gloves… I should have grabbed them when we were over there getting my fuzzy socks and scarves."

"Will you grab a pair for me too?" Toshiro asked, before he pointed down the long aisle in the direction of the living room section. "I have to grab a couple more things for my apartment."

"Will do," Karin said, pausing to kiss him, then turning to go back where all the clothes were. "I'll meet up with you in a bit."

Toshiro watched Karin walk away for a moment, then made his way to the living room section. Stopping short to where there was a section of throw blankets between the living room and bedroom section, he sighed as he looked at them all.

"Toshiro?"

Orihime's voice hit Toshiro's ears, and he turned to see Orihime and Ichigo. Mina asleep in Ichigo's arms. Toshiro offered them a smile. "Hey."

"I thought you were supposed to be with Karin today." Orihime said, an eyebrow raised.

"I am, but she went to go pick up some gloves," Toshiro replied, then he motioned to the shopping cart. "Did you think that I would go out and by myself a rainbow assortment of fuzzy socks and scarves?"

Orihime and Ichigo laughed before Orihime replied. "I guess not."

"I'm looking into getting one of these throw blankets for my couch. When Karin and I watch movies in my living room, she likes to have a blanket. Especially now that it's cold outside," Toshiro said, then he smirked. "It's starting to become a little too much when she drags my entire comforter off my bed to bring into the living room."

Ichigo chuckled at that. "That sounds like Karin… I guess the bowls were her idea, but what about the crock pot?"

Toshiro smirked. "She did suggest it, but it wasn't that hard to talk me into it. I mean, it eventually makes food right?"

They all laughed that time. Orihime's laugh slowed, as she got a text from Mai. "Oh Mai and Hikari are in. Emi's going to be spending the night over at Rin and Kei's house..." she trailed off, as her eyes went to Toshiro's. "Oh Toshiro, you should go out with us. All of our friends are going to be in town tonight, and we want to meet up since that hardly ever happens since we got out of high school. Although, I understand if you don't want to, because you're supposed to be spending the day with Karin-"

"You know," Ichigo interrupts Orihime, as he shrugged. "You could just ask Karin if she wants to go."

At Ichigo suggesting that Toshiro was slightly taken aback at how Ichigo had willingly said that, but then he just nods after a minute. "Yeah, I can ask her."

"Great," Orihime said, a smile on her face. "Well we are probably going to go out to dinner, then maybe go bowling. Or go bowling, then out to dinner. We haven't decided yet."

"Bowling?" Toshiro asked, an eyebrow raised.

"It was Orihime's idea," Ichigo said. "If anything they have a big gaming arcade there as well."

Orihime noticed that didn't seem to change Toshiro's look, but she just waived it off. "Don't worry Toshiro; it will be fun."

"Like I said, I'll ask Karin, and I will let you know." Toshiro replied, his eyes moving to Ichigo as Mina had woke up. "I'll text you later."

"Alright." Orihime said, reaching over for Mina, as she and Ichigo moved on.

After Orihime and Ichigo walked away, Toshiro looked back at the throw blankets, and finally picked up a red and black plaid blanket lined with a soft white fluffy side. He put it in the cart just as Karin walked appeared.

"Sorry, I got distracted by the sweatshirts," Karin said, holding up a grey one with Stitch from Lilo & Stitch on the front. "How cute is this?"

"Did you get gloves?" Toshiro asked, noticing her frown, he sighed. "The sweatshirt is very cute. Now gloves?"

"Yes, I got them too," Karin said, putting the sweatshirt and their gloves in the cart. She noticed the throw blanket, and she touched the white fluffy side. "That is so soft."

"I figured it might be more simple to have that on my couch, rather than my comforter from my bed," Toshiro smirked, as they started walking towards the front of the store. "So I ran into your brother and Orihime. They asked if we wanted to go out with them and some of our friends."

Karin met Toshiro's eyes. "What do they want to do?"

"Dinner and bowling. Not in any particular order."

"Bowling?"

"Yeah," Toshiro replied, smirking at Karin's raised eyebrow. "But Ichigo added that they have a gaming arcade there too."

"Okay, I guess that'll be fun," Karin replied, then she stopped walking at the sight of the aisle with Christmas decorations on it.

Noticing what Karin was looking at, Toshiro shook his head. "It's barely mid-November."

Karin motioned over to the decorations. "Yeah, but you don't have any decorations for your apartment yet do you?"

"No, I don't really do the whole decorations stuff," Toshiro replied, resting his forearms on the grocery cart. "Orihime was the one who added a few paintings and plants to my apartment. She said it was to make it look like someone actually lives there, which I don't understand, because it's not like I didn't have things in the apartment. Just not decorative things."

Humming lowly, Karin smiled back at him. "You do have a couple of pictures of us in your apartment."

Toshiro broke out into a smile at that. "That's true… But regardless, I'm not much of a decorator," he said, but at Karin's smile, he sighed. "Can we at least wait until it's closer to December?"

Staying quiet for a moment, Karin sighed heavily, then turned away from the Christmas aisle. "Fine."

 **Later that evening**

Walking up to the bowling alley, Toshiro reached over for Karin's head, as he eyed the big neon sign. "This is going to be interesting."

"Let's just hope that we bowl quickly, and can go to dinner." Karin said, as they walked in. Toshiro broke away to grab their bowling shoes, and Karin approached the others.

"We ended up getting two lanes because there is fourteen of us total." Orihime explained to Karin, as she motioned for her to walk with her over to the bowling lanes.

"Oh, that's a cute scarf Karin." Rukia complemented, as the two came over.

"Thanks," Karin said, a hand going to the beige, pink and white scarf. "I bought it today. I figured I needed some new ones after how cold it's been the past few days."

"Here. If they don't fit, I can go back and get you another size." Renji's voice was heard before he appeared beside Rukia. Handing her bowling shoes to her.

Karin noticed a flirty look in both Rukia and Renji's eyes. After Renji walked away, Karin leaned over a bit closer. "When did that happen?"

Rukia noticed Karin's eyes on her, and she shrugged. "Over the Summer… I'll have to tell you more about it later."

Karin's eyes followed Rukia's over to see Renji and Toshiro walking over.

"Why did you two just get quiet?" Renji asked, an eyebrow raised.

"No reason." Karin and Rukia chorused before Rukia moved over to go look for a bowling ball.

"Thank you," Karin said, accepting the shoes from Toshiro. She put the shoes on and slipped her own shoes under their table. Her focus went to the others who were putting names on the two lanes they had. "Hey, put me on the same lane as Ichigo. I want to play against him."

"Oh please." Ichigo said, shaking his head at Karin's words.

Karin smirked back at him. "I'm going to crush you."

"In your dreams." Ichigo shot back, grinning now.

Karin walked over to go grab a bowling ball and stopped by the other girls. Her eyes going to Rukia. "So Renji?"

"Yeah, it just kind of happened," Rukia said with a shrug. "I mean he was my friend first, and it just kind of turned into more."

"Wow… I never guessed someone would date Renji." Karin replied, making the other women laugh.

Orihime smiled over to Rukia. "You definitely have your work cut out for you."

"You know," Rangiku started, her eyes on Karin. "We never really expected anyone to date Toshiro either."

Rukia nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that was kind of a shock to know that he was actually dating someone. Honestly, over the amount of time that I've known him, I've never seen him date anyone. He just never seemed to have time or interest in dating anyone."

"Like you said," Karin shrugged with a smile. "It just kind of happened."

"Hey!" Ichigo called over, getting their attention. "Let's go. We've got to get a couple games in before we go to dinner."

Karin grabbed a bowling ball, and walked over to where their lanes were.

Toshiro noticed a smile on her face. "What?"

"Oh nothing," Karin said, her smile widening at Toshiro's raised eyebrow. "I'm glad we're doing this. It's a nice change."

"Me too," Toshiro agreed, then he motioned in the direction of the arcade. "I don't know if you noticed, but there are a ton of games in the arcade."

Karin's smile turned to a grin. "I know. We'll bowl a game, then sneak away to the arcade."

"Glad we're on the same page." Toshiro chuckled.

"But first," Karin said, picking her bowling ball back up. "I have to go crush my brother at bowling first."

 **A little past one in the morning**

"Thanks man," Taro said to Jax, who had dropped them off in front of Taro's house, as he was the designated driver that night. Waiting until Jax drove away, Taro turned and grabbed Yuzu's hand. "Let's get inside."

"Yes please, it is freezing!" Yuzu exclaimed, laughing as she and Taro walked down the front walkway to his front porch. They were both a little tipsy after the party they had been at. "That was a really fun party."

Taro unlocked the front door, then they walked in. "It was. I would have wanted to stay later, but it was getting pretty cold."

"With how many times people were opening the front and back doors to that house, I wasn't surprised," Yuzu said, slipping off her shoes. "Okay, I'm going to change into pajamas."

"Okay, let's go change, then we can come down here and watch a movie," Taro smiled at the sight of her cheeks tinted a little pink, because of the cold air. "I can also start a fire in the fireplace."

"Perfect," Yuzu said, following Taro up the stairs, and they went to his room. It was the first time she had actually been in his bedroom, and she took in his art on the walls and some karate stuff. "You do karate?"

Taro shrugged, as he had been getting some pajama pants out of his dresser. "I used to. I haven't got to do it that much lately between school, work, and dating you."

Yuzu met his eyes. "You shouldn't stop doing it just for me."

"Well I like spending time with you when I'm not in school or working, so it's worth it," Taro said, leaning over to kiss her. "Besides, it was just kind of a hobby, and not really something I'm overly passionate about. I can always pick it back up if I feel like it."

 _Interesting, I never really knew that about him before._ Yuzu thought, as she set her bag down to grab her nightgown out of it. She moved into the bathroom, and after changing she came back out to find Taro gone from the room. Putting her clothes from the day into her bag, she grabbed her phone and went back downstairs. She walked into the living room to find Taro lighting the fire.

Having heard Yuzu coming into the room, Taro straightened up and moved over to the couch. "I got us some water and snacks too."

"I might have something in a little while." Yuzu said, joining him on the couch, then she kissed him.

When their kiss broke, Taro laughed a little. "I have to say I like the nightgown."

Glancing down at the periwinkle night gown she was wearing, Yuzu shrugged. "Well, it was tempting to just steal on of your t-shirts to sleep in, like I used to."

"I would have been okay with that too," Taro said, leaning over to kiss her again. The world seemed to grow silent around them, and the only sounds were the occasional crackle from the fire in the fireplace and their hums of pleasure as they kissed. Several minutes had passed, before Taro finally had to pull away from their kiss. "Can I be honest?"

"Yes of course." Yuzu replied, an eyebrow raised at how he had pulled away from her.

"I just think it's a little difficult to stop when I know how good it is to keep going," Taro said, reaching over to take one of her hands. "And I just think that when we kiss like that it… It can be a little bit too much if we're not going to do anything more."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind," Yuzu said, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek, before she snuggled her head on his shoulder. "Let's watch a movie."

* * *

 **A/N: Karin's starting to socialize with Toshiro's friends, including her brother and Orihime now, and it seems to be going well. Also Taro and Yuzu's relationship seems to be going pretty well right now, as well. Things seem to be going well for both the Kurosaki sisters.**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**


	16. Going On A Trip

_Review:_

" _Yes of course." Yuzu replied, an eyebrow raised at how he had pulled away from her._

" _I just think it's a little difficult to stop when I know how good it is to keep going," Taro said, reaching over to take one of her hands. "And I just think that when we kiss like that it… It can be a little bit too much if we're not going to do anything more."_

" _Okay, I'll keep that in mind," Yuzu said, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek, before she snuggled her head on his shoulder. "Let's watch a movie."_

* * *

 **A few days later, Wednesday, November 16th**

Taking down the hollow, Karin took a few deep breaths and found her lungs kind of burning at the cold air. Glancing around her, she found herself still very much alone in the space behind a few stores. _Good, so no one saw_ _me do that.._ Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out to see a text.

 _Kimi: Where are you? Six period ended fifteen minutes ago, and you're about to be late for work._

 _Karin: Sorry, got distracted, and I'm only a block away._

Walking around the building, she got back on the sidewalk where there were people and started at a very quick walk down the block. She actually was four blocks away but figured one block sounded better. Making it through three crosswalks, she quickly ran into the gym just as it hit 2:45.

Kimi was smirking from behind the front desk, as Karin walked over to sit next to her. "You just barely made it."

"It's actually a miracle," Karin replied, coughing a little as the cold air from outside had done a number on her lungs. Turning to the computer, she signed in for her shift and then opened her book bag. "What are we studying for?"

"Well actually, I was just finishing up math homework, and that way I'll be able to just focus on studying for exams." Kimi replied, motioning to her open math textbook, and her worksheet.

Pulling her own math textbook and folder out, Karin set her book bag on the floor and nudged it under the desk with her foot. "I hate math."

"Well at least it's not like history where you have to memorize a billion things," Kimi replied, sliding her textbook over to Karin's side of the desk to show her what page she was on. "So, what took you so long to get here?"

"As I said, I hate math, and I stopped by our math class to ask our teacher some questions for our big exam on Friday," Karin replied, grabbing her pencil, as she glanced around. "It doesn't seem all that busy here."

Kimi chuckled, as she had propped her head up on her hand. "Yeah, because who wants to go anywhere, especially the gym, when it's cold out?"

"You know exercise heats up the body."

Kimi sighed at Karin's words. "I guess… I've just had enough exercise doing softball all semester, and I'm ready for a break."

"Well at least softball is almost over for you," Karin replied, copying Kimi and propping her chin on her hand. "Soccer is just around the corner for me, and I could use more exercise than I already get."

"Unrelated to working out, I'm glad we're doing that study session tomorrow," Kimi said, glancing back down at her math textbook. "We have so many exams on Friday, and I feel like my head is about to explode."

"I know. With all the studying we are putting into it though, we better get good grades," Karin said, looking up at the door as a few people came in. "Here I thought this would be the slowest and easiest work day ever."

"Is it ever easy?" Kimi countered, putting a smile on her face, as she and Karin swiped the people's membership cards. After they walked away, she met Karin's eyes. "At least we weren't put on the schedule that much during the break."

"I know. I'm already excited." Karin replied, her eyes going back to the door as more people came in. _It's going to be a long day._

 **The next day**

"Yes!" Yuzu exclaimed happily.

"Damn, I've already lost so much money." Jax, one of Taro's friends, complained, watching Yuzu take their money.

"You know she's the best." Taro said, bragging a little, as he and Yuzu shared a look.

"It's still fun though." Hinata added, dealing out their cards again.

The front door opened, and in came Karin and her friends. Karin glanced over to the table, then motioned for her friends to take over the couches. "This will be good for studying."

Isshin walked downstairs and glanced around at everyone. "There is a lot of people here right now."

Karin looked over to her dad. "Dad, I told you my study group was coming over. We have a lot of exams tomorrow, and some projects to finish."

"Right," Isshin said, then glanced the other direction to the table. "What about you Yuzu?"

"We're playing poker." Yuzu replied shortly.

"I see that… Don't you have exams and projects to work on too?"

Yuzu waved off her dad's question. "I'm taking a break from studying. It's not going to get me anywhere studying so much."

Isshin raised an eyebrow. "Alright…."

"Okay," Karin started after watching her dad walk into the kitchen. Her eyes going to the others in her study group. "We're going to start with Literature, then go to math, history, and finally biology. Then at the end we can split off into elective classes or projects. I-" Laughter from Yuzu and her friends interrupted Karin, and she had to take a breath before continuing. "I figured we can also go through the general study guides, and go through in more depth-" Once again Yuzu and her friends laughter interrupted Karin.

Isshin walked out of the kitchen. "Alright, I'm about to leave."

"Dad," Karin started, irritably looking in the direction of the table. "Can you tell Yuzu and her friends to go somewhere else to play poker? It's distracting."

Yuzu, having heard what her sister said, looked to Karin. "No, we were here first. You and your friends go to the library."

"No, I asked dad on Monday if it was okay for my study group to come over to the house this afternoon/evening to study today." Karin shot back, narrowing her eyes.

Isshin took a deep breath and looked to Yuzu. "I'm sorry Yuzu, but I did tell your sister she could have her study group over-"

"Why does Karin get dibs on our entire house for an evening, and I have to go somewhere else if I want to see my friends?" Yuzu interrupted, glaring at Karin.

Seeing his daughters glaring at each other, Isshin raised up a hand. "Yuzu, if you and your friends aren't going to study or at least keep the volume on a quiet level, I ask that you either send your friends home or go to one of their houses to play your poker game."

Yuzu's look darkened, and here Hinata quickly stood up. "Let's just go to my house. It's only five minutes away, and my parents would be cool with it."

"Sure." Yuzu finally agreed as she and their other friends got up. She grabbed her bag and glared at her sister on the way out.

It was until after Yuzu left that Karin focused back on the others. "Now where were we."

"I love the drama between you and your sister," Kimi said, grinning at Karin. "It's like a personal TV show."

"Let's just focus on studying," Karin replied, her eyes going to her dad who was putting a jacket on. "Thank you."

"Well you did ask a few days ago, so it's only fair," Isshin said, finishing with his jacket, as he pulled his keys off the hook by the door. "I will be going out for the evening. Let me know when you and your friends want dinner, and I'll order a couple pizzas and have them delivered to the house."

"Okay..." Karin trailed off and raised an eyebrow as her dad was a little more dressed up than he usually would be. "Where are you going?"

Isshin hesitated before reaching for the doorknob. "Out to dinner."

At her dad's short response, Karin hummed lowly. "With who?"

"Work colleagues," Isshin replied, opening the door, then looking her way again. "I have to get going."

"Alright, be careful." Karin replied before her dad walked out, she turned around to look out the front window to see him walking to his car. _Something seems weird._

 **Later that night**

"It's so annoying!" Yuzu exclaimed as she slipped on her pajama pants. She was planning on spending the night at Hinata's tonight, as she didn't want to go home and sit around listening to Karin and her friends still studying in the living room. "Karin and her friends just waltz inside and kick us out. Kick me out of my own house."

Hinata hummed lowly, as she finished up changing into her own pajamas as well. "It really wasn't that big of a deal that we had to leave earlier."

"It's frustrating," Yuzu said, sitting down on Hinata's bed, and pulling her hair out of its ponytail. She glanced down at her open textbook. After reading a couple of sentences, she sighed and looked to Hinata. "I don't want to study."

"We haven't really studied much this past week." Hinata pointed out, smirking as she had been looking at her own textbook.

Yuzu sighed. "We don't really need to spend the entire evening studying. We will get passing grades, and that is really all that matters, right?"

"Right," Hinata said, glancing down at her textbook, then back to Yuzu. "Want to go make popcorn and watch a movie first?"

Yuzu immediately closed her textbook and jumped off the bed. "Absolutely."

 **The next day, Friday**

Walking into the house, Karin kicked off her shoes, and grabbed Zorro. "I'm pretty sure I did great on all my exams today."

"That's great." Isshin replied, having just sat down on the couch.

Karin looked over and found Orihime, Ichigo, and Toshiro also in the living room. "I didn't know you guys were here."

"Our car is in the driveway. How did you miss it?" Ichigo countered, an eyebrow raised.

"I was texting Kimi." Karin shot back, before focusing on Mina in Orihime's arms.

"Toshiro road with us over here today." Orihime added, smiling at how Mina cooed at Karin's attention.

Toshiro stood up after meeting Karin's eyes. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something."

"Okay, well I'm going to go put my book bag up in my room, as I won't be needing it for the next week," Karin said, setting Zorro down after he started to try to get out of her arms. "You can come and talk to me while I look through my pile of sweatshirts to figure out which one I want to wear."

"Pile?" Toshiro questioned, an eyebrow raised.

Karin laughed as they started to the stairs. "Around one in the morning last night, I was about to have a breakdown from studying non-stop, and I decided to distract myself by re-organizing my entire closet. Half of it is still on the floor."

Toshiro chuckled. "Okay then."

They walked upstairs. Once up there Karin dropped her book bag on the bed, then turned to kiss him.

When they broke apart, Toshiro raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to be looking through your closet right about now."

"I know I'm going to wear the black sweatshirt with all the coffee cups on it. I just said that so we could do this." Karin replied, then she kissed him again.

"As nice as this is," Toshiro said, as he pulled back. "I actually do need to talk to you for a minute."

"Okay..." Karin trailed off, trying to read his expression. "Should I be concerned here?"

"No, absolutely not," Toshiro replied quickly. "I wanted to talk to you about possibly going on a trip for a few days."

"What kind of a trip?" Karin asked, sitting on her bed.

"Well your brother, Orihime, and some of our friends are pitching in to rent a cabin in the mountains a few hours north of here. There is some sort of festival going on up there too, and I think even further north it's supposed to be snowing."

"Really?"

Smiling at Karin's raised eyebrow, Toshiro nodded. "Yes, really."

"That sounds like a lot of fun," Karin said, then she frowned. "Although I can't say yes just yet. I have to talk to my dad. I know he's okay with me coming over to your apartment and occasionally spending the night, but I don't know how he'd feel about me going away with you on a trip."

"Well, to be honest, I kind of already brought it up with your dad while we were waiting for you to come home from school."

"You did?"

"Yeah, and he said he was okay with it. Which I'm pretty sure that's mostly because it's a group of us going, and your brother and Orihime will be going too."

"I don't care. I will take it," Karin said, standing up she kissed him again. "I'm so excited."

Toshiro smirked as she had started to the door. "Wait, get your sweatshirt first."

"Oh yeah," Karin said, going into her closet, and returning a minute later with her coffee cup sweatshirt on. They left her room to go downstairs, and as soon as she saw Orihime and Ichigo again, she grinned. "This is going to be so much fun. After spending the last week going through hell studying for my tests, writing papers, and working on projects… It's perfect."

"I'm excited too," Orihime said, offering Karin to come sit down next to her, then she passed Mina over. "I've done tons of research on the area we'll be staying at."

"Where is it?" Karin asked, an eyebrow raised.

"It's in the mountains four hours north of Karakura," Ichigo started, getting Karin to look at him. "The little town that it's technically apart of is called Wayhurst."

"What are you two going to do with Mina and Bingo?" Karin asked, looking from Ichigo to Orihime.

Isshin smiled at that. "I'll be babysitting Mina and Bingo while you all are gone."

"And Zorro." Karin added, as her cat jumped up on the coffee table.

Reaching over and shuffling Zorro off the coffee table, Isshin sighed. "And the demon cat you adopted."

While the others laughed, Karin shook her head and focused on Zorro who jumped up on the couch beside her.

"I think he's jealous that you're holding Mina." Toshiro said, reaching over to take Zorro before he could attempt to step on Mina to get to Karin.

"You have to share Zorro. I am not raising you to be selfish," Karin said, making the others laugh again. Her eyes focused in on her dad, and what he was wearing. "You're dressed up again."

"Oh this?" Isshin countered, his eyes going down to his outfit. "Just another business dinner."

"It's not even four p.m. yet. How far away is this business dinner?" Karin asked.

At her daughter's persistence, Isshin shrugged and stood up from the couch. "It's going to be an hour drive, and I think we're going to do cocktails or an hour or so before dinner really starts."

"You're going an hour away for a business dinner, when our city is full of places to eat at, and those places are only maybe twenty minutes away by car-"

"Karin," Isshin interrupted before he chuckled. "I appreciate the strange interest you have suddenly developed in my job, but this is just a normal business dinner. They can't all be in Karakura city."

"Okay..." Karin trailed off, remaining quiet as her dad grabbed his keys, said goodbye, and left. Then she looked right to Orihime. "That's interesting."

"How so?" Toshiro asked.

"I didn't really mention this yesterday, because I was busy studying," Karin started, adjusting Mina so she could hold her a little closer to her chest. "But he had a business dinner yesterday too."

While that didn't change Ichigo or Toshiro's expressions, Orihime raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Did he say who with?"

"Not specifics, just work colleagues," Karin replied, sharing a look with Orihime.

"I don't get it," Ichigo said after a moment. "What's the big deal? So what if he goes to business dinners two nights in a row-"

"Wait," Orihime interrupted Ichigo, as she continued looking to Karin. "You don't think…"

Karin nodded back. "I do. I think my dad is seeing someone."

Clearly taken aback, Ichigo rubbed the back of his head. "How did you two get that from him dressing up?"

"It's obvious Ichigo," Karin said, still focusing on Orihime. "Why would he get all dressed up if he's going to meet with his colleagues? I could understand a little bit, but not this much. And the whole driving an hour excuse is weird."

"Unless he's not driving an hour away," Orihime said, humming lowly as she gave it some thought. "He might have just needed an excuse as to why he's leaving so early."

Toshiro raised an eyebrow and looked between Orihime and Karin. "Don't you two think you are looking into this a little too much?"

"No." Orihime and Karin chorused.

"Okay then," Ichigo said slowly. "Forget I said anything."

"How about we circle back to the trip?" Toshiro asked, his eyes going to Karin. "We're leaving tomorrow morning around eleven, and it's going to be a four-hour drive. So we should be at the cabin around three."

It was quiet for a moment, then Karin turned to face Orihime. "Who would my dad be dating?"

"I don't know- Oh we should check his Facebook." Orihime said, pulling her phone out.

Staring at Orihime and Karin for a long moment, Ichigo sighed and looked to Toshiro. "Want to go outside? Bingo's got a few new tricks we've been working on."

"Yeah." Toshiro agreed as he and Ichigo got up to go out in the back yard.

Karin's eyes went to Orihime. "You'll have to look it up. I was apparently logged out of my Facebook account, and I don't remember my password. It's been way too long since I've actually touched Facebook."

"Will do." Orihime said, moving over to the couch Karin was on to show her phone to her.

 **Later that evening**

"I'm dreading seeing my report card in a few weeks."

Yuzu nodded in agreement with Hinata, as she picked up another section of hair to wrap around the curling wand. "I know. I usually would be getting all As, but after this semester; I'll probably have more Bs than As."

"Well, I'm probably going to see a C or two on mine," Hinata said, having pulled a new shirt on, and moved to the mirror to see how it looked. "It's not like it really matters. We have all next semester to get our grades up."

"That's true," Yuzu said, then grabbed her phone with her freehand after letting the hair curl fall off the iron. "Oh yeah, I have to text my dad and tell him that I'm hanging out with you all tonight."

"Of course you wait until last minute."

"It's not like he's going to say no. As long as I'm home by curfew he's okay usually."

Hinata accepted her outfit, then moved over to where Yuzu was. "Are you done with the curling wand? I need to touch up my curls."

"Go ahead." Yuzu said, handing the wand over, then looking down at her phone to scroll through Instagram.

"Is Taro going to be able to meet up with us after he gets off work?" Hinata asked, watching Yuzu scroll through Instagram and end up on Taro's page.

"He said probably, but not definitely-" Yuzu broke off as the sound of laughter from downstairs caught her attention. Her eyes moved to Hinata. "This is so weird. I feel like your sisters are never home. It's weird when they actually are."

"I know," Hinata agreed, turning to the mirror to touch up her curls with the wand. "My older sister is visiting from college with her fiance for the next week, and my younger sister is usually spending time in the after-school program since my parents don't get home from work until six."

Yuzu cringed. "Oh god, that is one thing I don't miss from being in elementary school. The after-school program hell. My sister didn't mind it because they always let the kids play sports, but I hated it. My dad was always busy being a doctor, so I spent a lot of time there when I was younger."

"I hated it too," Hinata turned the curling iron off. "I feel bad for my little sister, but at the same time, I'm not really built to be a babysitter. I mean my older sister had to suffer through, and I did too. It's only fair that my little sister has the experience too."

"You're so nice." Yuzu replied, laughing as Hinata stuck out her tongue.

"It's tough love. She's in 4th grade and I'm in 9th grade. There's so much distance between us, and she still gets on my nerves most of the time."

"I'm sure your older sister feels the same way about you. She's six grades older than you."

There was more talk from downstairs, and Hinata sighed and turned up the music they were listening to. "Let's just finish getting ready, and forget about my relatives."

 **Later that night**

"You know, I thought you would at least have waited for me." Taro said, closing the door, and reaching around Yuzu to support her going down the stairs.

"I didn't know for sure if you were coming," Yuzu replied, a little wobbly as she walked. "Hinata wanted to take some shots because she and Yukio got in a fight, and I couldn't just say no."

They had to stop as Yuzu's balance led to her stumbling again. Taking off his jacket, Taro wrapped around her, before they started walking again. "Well, I can say that was the shortest amount of time I've ever stayed at a party. A whole twenty minutes."

"We could have stayed-"

"Ah no we couldn't," Taro interrupted, as they got to his car. "It's better that we get you home, because you're a little bit drunk."

"Okay." Was all Yuzu said, as she leaned against the car.

Taro chuckled, as he opened her car door for her. "I know it's okay."

Yuzu laughed as she got in the car. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Taro replied, he closed her car door and walked around to the driver's side to get in as well. After cranking up the car, he glanced over to Yuzu. "This is not exactly how I pictured this night going."

"Well, how did you picture it?"

"I figured that you'd at least wait for me to get there before you got drunk."

"I'm sorry… Let me make it up to you." Yuzu said, leaning over to kiss him. After a moment, she moved out of her seat, to climb over the center console.

Taro immediately pulled back, as she had climbed over to sit on his lap. "Yuzu, I don't think this is a good idea."

"Why not?" Yuzu countered before she kissed him again.

Again, Taro pulled back. "Yuzu-"

"It's okay Taro. We're just kissing." Yuzu interrupted, smiling at Taro before she kissed him again.

Despite his mind telling him not to, Taro gave in this time and kissed her back. He let his hands fall to rest on her waist, and their kissing grew heated. However, as their closeness became more obvious, he broke apart from her again, and let his head fall back against the headrest. "God Yuzu, you make this so difficult sometimes."

"Okay..." Yuzu moved back over to the passenger's seat.

Taro met Yuzu's eyes and sighed. "Yuzu, our relationship is amazing. But if we're not going to go all the way and have sex anytime soon, we really don't need to be getting so close and personal like that."

Yuzu shrugged and sighed. "I guess I just get carried away sometimes."

"I can too, but I feel like it's just happening more often lately. I think we need to establish some boundaries," Taro paused to take a deep breath, as he started the car forward in drive. "But I think we should do that when you're completely sober."

 **Almost twenty minutes later**

They had pulled up in front of Yuzu's house, and Taro got out of the car to walk Yuzu to the front door. There were no lights on in the house, as Isshin was apparently supposed to be working late that night.

Once they were on the porch, Yuzu turned to Taro. "I'm sorry. I feel like I'm usually the one who takes it too far, and that's not fair because I'm also the one who doesn't want to have sex."

"It's okay," Taro said, caressing her cheek. "It's normal. We're obviously attracted to each other, and sometimes it's hard to think with our heads and not other parts of our body."

Yuzu laughed at that, as she kissed his cheek. "Thank you for taking me home."

"You're welcome. Make sure you go grab some water and maybe something to eat before you go to sleep." Taro replied, wrapping his arms around her to hug her, then he stepped back. "Goodnight Yuzu."

"Goodnight." Yuzu said before she walked in the house. After managing to grab some water and eat some leftovers from dinner, Yuzu started upstairs and laid down after kicking off her shoes. Laying there for a long moment, she brought a hand to her face. _It is going to be a rough morning tomorrow…_

 **The next morning, Saturday**

"We should probably get on the road." Ichigo said, after bringing in a bag of Bingo's dog food.

"Okay..." Orihime trailed off, as she handed Mina over to Isshin. Her focus then went down to give Bingo some last-minute scratches.

"Goodbye Zorro. This is going to be the longest five days of my entire life, and I am going to miss you so much." Karin said, holding her cat, who was more focused on attacking her hair.

Toshiro smirked, as he glanced from Karin to Orihime and Ichigo. "Wow, Karin's probably more emotional at leaving her cat, than you two are leaving Mina."

That made everyone laugh, as Yuzu came downstairs. Her hair was a little messed up, and her makeup from last night was still roughly on her face. She quickly tried to smooth her hair over, as she looked to the others. "Why are there people here this early in the morning?"

"It's eleven in the morning actually." Isshin pointed out, an eyebrow raised at her appearance.

Yuzu yawned and crossed her arms over her chest. "On a Saturday."

"We're going to the mountains a few hours up North with our friends. It's a little town called Wayhurst," Ichigo explained. "We're coming back on Wednesday."

Karin noticed Yuzu's raised eyebrow in her direction. "Toshiro invited me."

"Great," Yuzu said, as she reached down for Bingo who walked up to her. "It'll be quieter around here."

Isshin cleared his throat. "Well, I was thinking this might be a great week for you to go get your learners permit."

Shrugging her shoulders, Yuzu kept her eyes down on her phone. "Maybe."

"You know that you have to have the permit for a full year before you can get your drivers license," Isshin continued, an eyebrow raised. "The longer you wait is the longer it will be until you will be able to drive by yourself."

Yuzu sighed, as she waved it off. "I guess I can go get it."

After Yuzu left to go into the kitchen to get breakfast, Orihime chuckled. "I'm honestly surprised she hasn't gotten it already. She's been able to get it for several months now."

"Yeah, Ichigo and Karin were practically ready to drag me to the DMV as soon as possible to get their learners permits." Isshin replied.

"The others are leaving now," Ichigo said, having been looking at the group text for all of their friends. "We should probably get going as well."

"Okay." Karin said, setting Zorro down on top of the couch to stay away from Bingo, who had jumped up to try and see him.

"Have fun on your trip." Isshin said, hugging her with one arm, as he was holding Mina in the other.

"Will do," Karin replied, grabbing her suitcase and going outside after Toshiro opened the door for her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Toshiro said, smiling back at her.

 **Back inside**

Having grabbed some water and a pop-tart for breakfast, Yuzu returned to her room and sat down at her desk. After taking a bite of pop-tart, she opened her journal to write.

 _So after a fun night out with my friends, I can safely say that I am indeed hungover and I feel like I am about to die. To make matters worse, I found out that Karin is going to go to the mountains for five days. The mountains! She's going because Toshiro invited her, and they are going to be with Orihime and Ichigo and all of their friends. I just think it's kind of unfair because all her friends through Toshiro are older and have more freedom. Once again, she gets to do things that I can't do because my boyfriend is in high school. My friends are all in high school. This is so unfair!_

 _And while Karin is off having the best Fall break ever, I'm going to be stuck at home over the break, and have to deal with my dad. He's trying to make me go take the test for my learners permit, but I really just don't care that much. Sure I won't be able to have my drivers license for another year, but I don't really care. I have people in my life that can drive me places if I absolutely need it, but I can walk too. I mean yeah, I guess it would be nice to have some independence and be able to drive myself places…_

Stopping her writing, Yuzu hummed for a minute, then she grabbed her phone to text her dad that she wanted to go get her learners permit. After sending the text, she closed her journal and got up. _You know what? I'm not going to care. If Karin gets to go have a great Fall break, I will have one too. Sure, I can't go on some fancy trip like her, but I can have fun in Karakura too. I'm going to make this a great Fall break for me._

* * *

 **A/N: Their Fall break is starting, and there is going to be a really fun chapter coming up with all their activities. I do want to make sure you all know that my story Finding What's Lose actually is also running along with this story. If you want to see more activities on the Fall break for Karin and Toshiro with their friends up in the mountains, go check out chapter 14 and 15 for Finding What's Lost.**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**


	17. Fall Break

_Review:_

 _Stopping her writing, Yuzu hummed for a minute, then she grabbed her phone to text her dad that she wanted to go get her learners permit. After sending the text, she closed her journal and got up. You know what? I'm not going to care. If Karin gets to go have a great Fall break, I will have one too. Sure, I can't go on some fancy trip like her, but I can have fun in Karakura too. I'm going to make this a great Fall break for me._

* * *

 **Over four hours later**

Karin's eyes swept around herself and eyed the big living room they were in. Landing on the big windows that showed what seemed like endless trees and more mountains in the distance.

"Karin, your turn."

Mai's voice caught Karin's attention, and she looked over to see that Renji was handing over a mug full of folded up pieces of paper. She grabbed one, then passed it over to Toshiro, who just passed it right over to Uryu without grabbing a paper.

When they first got there they decided to pull numbers out of a mug to determine what rooms they were going to get. There were 13 of them there, and both Akira and Tatsuki agreed to take one of the rooms on the floor below the main floor that had two separate beds, and everyone else was picking numbers to see what room they'd get. Mai and Hikari, Orihime and Ichigo, Rukia and Renji, and Karin and Toshiro were sleeping in rooms with their significant other so it worked out splitting them in the eight rooms.

Toshiro shrugged as he met Karin's eyes. "I don't really care what room we get."

"I agree. I'm sure we won't be spending much time there anyways, as we'll probably be out doing things," Karin said, waiting until Rangiku grabbed the last one before opening their paper. "We got number 8."

"Two floors up." Toshiro said, grabbing their suitcases, then they started to the stairs.

Karin sighed as they started up the stairs. "Ugh stairs."

Hearing her grumbling made Toshiro laugh. "You can make it; I believe in you."

Once up in their room, they were greeted with an open room with big windows that face the back of the cabin. From this height, they were able to more clearly see the mountains in the distance, and just barely see where one of the many waterfalls were in the area. Karin approached the windows to look closer. "Oh wow… this is amazing."

"I'm kind of glad we got this room now." Toshiro said, walking over to stand beside her to look as well.

It was quiet for a moment, before Karin's eyes moved to Toshiro. "This is going to be an amazing trip."

"I agree," Toshiro said, meeting her eyes for a moment, then they kissed. When their kiss broke, he smiled, and motioned to the door. "Let's unpack our stuff later. Let's go look around this place a bit more."

Spending the next twenty minutes exploring the four level cabin, Karin and Toshiro found themselves back at the kitchen where most of the others were.

"We need to go see the falls." Rukia said, having been holding one of the pamphlets they got at the visitor center once they arrived in town.

"Yes, before it gets too late and really cold." Rangiku agreed.

"We should still probably make sure we dress in layers though," Hikari said, having broke into some of the groceries they bought at the little grocery store in town. "It'll probably be colder by the falls with all that water."

"Oh, we're going hiking?" Mai questioned, walking into the room after having coming from the second floor.

Renji shrugged, as he glanced over to where Rukia was looking over the brochure. "I guess so."

Rukia turned to look at Karin, who had just sat down in one of the recliner chairs. "Are you going to bring your camera with you?"

"Yeah… But it's still upstairs," Karin said, her eyes glancing in the direction of the stairs, before she sighed. "Stairs."

Toshiro smirked, as he patted her hand. "I'll go get it. Wouldn't want you to exhaust all of your energy going up all those stairs, when we would be going up about ten times as many stairs when we're hiking."

While that made the others laugh, Karin stuck out her tongue in his direction. "Ha ha."

 **Karakura Town**

"Wow," Yuzu said, her eyes taking in the huge stadium they walked into for Karakura's national level football game. "This is so much different than high school football games."

"Yeah, it's a whole lot more fun." Taro agreed, taking her hand, as they started down the steps towards where their seats were.

As they reached their seats and sat down, Yuzu turned in her seat to take in the huge stadium that seemed four times the amount of seats they had at their high school. "We're a lot closer than I thought we'd be for this being so last minute."

"My dad knows a guy who works here, and he knocked the price down a lot for me," Taro said, then he smirked. "However, we should probably try to only go out to dinner once or twice over the next couple weeks."

Yuzu laughed and turned back in her seat to face him. "Well, I will happily take over the finances for our dates. You hardly let me pay for anything anymore since we've started dating."

"Okay… But for the record, I like to buy things for you." Taro leaned over to kiss her.

Motioning down to the hoodie she was wearing that was for the team they were supposed to be cheering for, Yuzu raised an eyebrow. "Including this?"

"That was absolutely necessary," Taro said, motioning at the one he was wearing. "We had to match."

Yuzu laughed, as she stuck her hands in the pocket in the front. "Well it's keeping me very warm, thank you."

Taro wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and kissed her cheek. "You're welcome."

Yuzu's eyes went down the field for a moment. "So what can I look forward to today?"

"You can look forward to the temperature dropping as the sun goes down. It's going to be very loud. You also might not be able to talk tomorrow if you yell enough." Taro replied, grinning as that made her laugh.

"You and I might have different versions of what's worthy to look forward too." Yuzu said.

Taro shrugged, and then motioned back up to the level with all the food places. "They also have a lot of good food here too."

"Now you've got my attention." Yuzu said, as they both started laughing.

 **Later that night**

"Damn it."

Toshiro chuckled at Karin cursing, as he knocked her king off the chess board. "Checkmate," he said, smiling at her sigh. "Don't feel bad. I've played chess for years, and I'm pretty good."

"Clearly." Karin replied, she smiled as they put the pieces back in the box.

"I like chess," Toshiro said after they put the chess board and pieces away. "Back when I was growing up, I played chess with my father and grandfather regularly."

"That must be why I didn't even come close to winning," Karin said, but she waved it off. "Don't worry though; I plan on playing you again tomorrow and winning. If I don't win, then we are going to play this every day until I win."

Toshiro laughed as they got up from the small table, and moved over to the bed in their room to pull the comforter back. It was past ten thirty, and they were both ready to go to bed. "How nice was that hike earlier?"

"It was so peaceful and relaxing," Karin said, also getting up to take some of the decorative pillows off the bed. She felt a twinge of pain in her legs. "Although I'm definitely feeling the burn."

"That might be more from how you and your brother decided to race to see who could make it to the top first." Toshiro replied, smirking as she stuck out her tongue.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Karin replied, smiling as she grabbed her clothes for the night to change in the bathroom. Returning a few minutes later, she set her clothes from the day in her suitcase, and got in bed. Her eyes going to Toshiro to see he was staring at her. "What?"

Toshiro smirked, as he looked down to the long sleeved night gown she was wearing. "Is this what I get to look forward to all Winter?"

"What-" Karin stopped when she realized what he was talking about, and she laughed. "Maybe not the whole Winter."

"Oh, well now I'm disappointed."

At Toshiro's feigned look of disappointment, Karin smiled and leaned over to kiss him. "I have to switch if up every once in a while."

"Of course, of course."

Shaking her head at Toshiro's big grin, Karin focused down on her phone for a moment. Looking at some photos her dad sent of Zorro. She sent a text to tell him goodnight and thank him again for taking care of Zorro why she was gone. After sending the text, she set it down on the bedside table, and turned to snuggle up with Toshiro. "This is nice."

"I know," Toshiro said, his hand gently sliding up and down her back. "You know, we've been dating for almost four and a half months."

Karin hummed lowly. "I can't believe it's been that long. It feels like time just flew by."

"I feel the same way," Toshiro said, smiling as Karin had looked up to meet his eyes. "It's been an amazing four and a half months though."

"It has..." Karin trailed off before they kissed. When their kiss broke, she smiled back at him, then turned over so she could lay on her other side. After a moment Toshiro turned the light off, turned to face her, and wrapped his arm around her. Smiling at the fluttering feeling in her chest, Karin closed her eyes, and hoped to find sleep soon.

 **Back in Karakura Town**

"Oh my gosh, that was so much fun!" Yuzu exclaimed, as she and Taro exited the stadium.

"I've never heard you yell that loudly before." Taro said, grinning at Yuzu as they made their way through the crowd of people.

Yuzu laughed, as they finally broke free of the crowd. "You were right; I probably will lose my voice tomorrow. Hopefully, it won't be too terribly bad… Either way, I still had a lot of fun."

"I knew you would like it. It's a lot different when you get to experience it in person rather than on TV." Taro replied, taking her hand as they crossed the crosswalk to go into the parking lot.

"It's so much better than high school football. Like it doesn't even compare," Yuzu continued as they turned down the aisle where his car was. "I mean some of it is still a little confusing to me, but I think I actually understand it more."

"I'm happy to hear it. I could tell you were getting into the game." Taro said, as they reached his car. He opened the passenger side door for her, then jogged around to the driver's side.

Yuzu shivered after he cranked up the car. "It's freezing. I can see my breath."

"The car should heat up in a few minutes," Taro said, as he adjusted the heat so it would come on as the car heated up. "That's the downside of these football games on college or national level. They can run pretty late. With it being closer to the end of November, the temperature is dropping more significantly at night too."

"We'll have to prepare better next time." Yuzu said, having stuck her hands in the pocket of her hoodie.

Smiling at her clearly planning to go with him again, Taro propped his elbow on the center console. "Thank you for going with me."

"You don't have to thank me," Yuzu smiled back at him. "I wanted to come. I like spending time with you."

"I was wondering why you were so agreeing to go to a football game in late November in the evening," Taro said, laughing along with her before they kissed. "I better get started driving. It'll take nearly thirty minutes to get you home, and that is cutting it pretty close to your curfew."

Yuzu pulled out her phone now that her hands were starting to warm up again. "Don't worry. I'll text my dad, and that way if we're a few minutes late it won't be a big deal."

Taro put the car in reverse after waiting for a car to pass, and backed them out of the parking spot. "So does that mean we can make a very quick stop at the Starbucks and get some hot chocolate?"

"I think that would be allowed." Yuzu replied, sharing a smile with Taro, before he started them forward.

 **The next morning, Sunday**

Drawing another line, Yuzu smiled as the song switched on her phone. She was at the art studio in the city, and was working on a sketch for fun for the first time in a while. She wanted to focus so she got out of the house, went to the art studio, and put in some earbuds to keep her focused. Her muse had actually been Karin's cat, Zorro. She had been so in the zone that when she felt someone's hand on her arm, she jumped and dropped her pencil. Turning on the stool to see Taro, she frowned. "Taro!"

Taro laughed at her irritated look, as he leaned over to pick up her pencil. "Nice to see you to."

"You scared me!" Yuzu exclaimed, laughing as she took out the earbud that hadn't fallen out when he scared her.

"Sorry," Taro said, then he lowered his head down so he could kiss her. His eyes then went to her sketch. "The cat?"

"Yeah," Yuzu sighed, as she looked to the sketch. "He's starting to grow on me. Since Karin's not home, he slept in my room last night, and he was just too cute to wake up to this morning."

Taro shrugged, as he held his lopsided grin on his face. "I don't know. I'm pretty cute to wake up to."

Yuzu laughed. "That's true."

"So, I know you are super busy sketching right now," Taro said, as he wrapped an arm around her. "But, I was kind of hoping to take you somewhere."

Yuzu raised an eyebrow. "This wouldn't be somewhere that requires spending money would it? We just talked yesterday about how we need to take a break from spending money."

That brought Taro's grin back to his face. "It's not that much money, and it'll be worth it."

Humming lowly, Yuzu finally nodded. "Okay, let's go."

 **A half hour later**

Yuzu's jaw dropped as they pulled up to an apple orchard just outside Karakura Town to the North where there was a lot of forest and it was a lot more rural. "We're going apple picking?"

"Yep," Taro replied, turning off the car before they got out. Meeting at the trunk of the car, he grinned at her. "Surprise."

Yuzu smiled, as they walked in the direction of the main building. "I haven't done this in forever."

"Well I thought it'd be fun," Taro said. "I know we don't normally do these types of things, but I thought it'd be nice to do something different."

"I think this will be so much fun." Yuzu replied, reaching down for his hand, as they got to the main building.

Taro smiled at her. "Let's go get a basket, and we can get started apple picking."

 **The town of Wayhurst**

Taking a bite, Karin instantly hummed happily. "Oh my gosh, this is amazing."

Toshiro smiled as he looked at the guy behind the counter. "We'll take a bag of the fudge too, I guess."

Karin finished the bite she had in her mouth. "I can't decide which I like better. The peanut brittle or the fudge."

"Well, we are getting both, so you don't have to decide." Toshiro replied, grabbing a napkin and wiping a little fudge off the corner of her mouth.

Focusing back on the display case of the sweets shop they were in, Karin frowned. "Maybe we should try more."

"Absolutely not, or else you won't be able to sleep tonight. Then you will be grumpy tomorrow." Toshiro replied, as they walked over to the register.

Karin laughed. "You're not wrong… But what if we miss out on something amazing."

"We can come back tomorrow and try more." Toshiro told her after paying for the two bags of treats.

"Okay," Karin said, as they left the shop. Once outside, she pulled her jacket a little closer to her, as the chilly November wind passed by them. "It's freezing-"

"Karin!" Orihime called over from across the street, as she was motioning to a store behind her. "Candles!"

"Yes," Karin started across the street to meet Orihime. "Yes, absolutely yes."

As soon as they walked in the store, they were greeted with a strong wave of the cozy and warm atmosphere of the candle shop.

"How are we going to smell all of these?" Orihime asked.

"We'll be here all day..." Karin trailed off at the sight of what seemed like hundreds of different candles.

The door to the shop opened again, and their friends came in. Renji was the first to shake his head. "I can tell that this is going to give me a headache being in here for longer than a few minutes."

"I know," Rukia agreed. "I like a good candle here and there, but this is sensory overload."

"I noticed there is a bar a block down from here." Akira pointed out.

Tatsuki clapped her hands together. "Yes, let's go do that!"

"I'm pretty sure Rangiku's already there." Renji said, as he opened the door to go outside.

"Actually I think she moved along with Mai, Hikari, Uryu, and Chad to the festival just outside of town." Ichigo corrected.

"Perfect. Let's go get a drink or two, and meet them." Rukia replied, her eyes going from Renji to the others.

Ichigo smirked at the sight of both Karin and Orihime focused on the candles, and looked back to Rukia. "We'll catch up with you guys."

After the others left, Toshiro walked over to Karin. He had just finished eating one of the peanut brittle. "Should I get a basket?"

"What?" Karin countered, not looking away from the candles.

"For the hundreds of candles I can sense that you might buy." Toshiro explained.

Karin shrugged. "I'm not going to buy anything. I just want to smell them."

Toshiro laughed shortly at that. "That's what you say when you insist we go into Bath and Bodyworks, and we end up walking out with eight candles."

"I'll try to have some self control here..." Karin trailed off, after smelling a maple candle. "Maybe I can just buy one."

"Here we go." Toshiro said, laughing.

Ichigo, on the other hand, was watching closely as Orihime smelled a candle. "We're going to be here all day."

"Not if we go really quickly," Orihime said, as her eyes met Karin's. "I will go on the other side of the store, and if there are any that are really amazing, we'll tell each other."

Karin nodded, and high fived Orihime. "Great idea."

Both Ichigo and Toshiro chuckled. After Ichigo and Orihime walked to the other side of the store, Karin picked up another candle to smell, but found herself distracted by the painting above the shelf she was looking at.

Noticing Karin's pause, Toshiro raises an eyebrow. "We're not going to get anywhere if you don't start smelling candles."

"The painting," Karin said, her eyes following it, and smiling. It was of a herd of wild horses, and the colors were so real and vibrant. "It's beautiful."

Realizing what she was looking at, Toshiro nodded after a moment. "It is..." He trailed off, watching as Karin looked at the painting for another moment, before picking up another candle. However, his eyebrow raised when she had fully stopped what she was doing again to look back at the painting. _She's so intrigued by it…_

 **Back in Karakura Town**

"Make sure your eyes are closed."

"Taro, I told you already. They are closed."

"I'm just making sure. This is the secret ingredient after all," Taro replied. "It's my grandmother's recipe. She taught my mom, and my mom taught me. So it's very secret."

"Well I like pie, so I'm already excited," Yuzu said, as she smiled. They were back at Taro's house, and were in the process of making an apple pie with the apples they picked today. "Can I open my eyes now?"

"Yes." Taro replied, leaning over and kissing her when she did open her eyes. The sound of the front door opening broke their kiss, and Taro started back on putting the top layer of pie crust on the pie. "Hey, we're in the kitchen!"

Both Taro's parents walked in, his mother's eyes widening at the sight of the pie. "Oh wow, this is a nice surprise."

"I hope you don't mind, but I showed Yuzu how we make grandma's apple pie," Taro said, and he quickly waved a hand. "But don't worry, I made her close her eyes when I put in the secret ingredient."

"What's the occasion?" Taro's dad asked, as he was taking off his jacket.

"I don't know. Taro picked me up from the art studio and drove me to the apple farm as a surprise, then we came back here and the surprise just continued with an apple pie." Yuzu replied, taste testing some of the left over filling they had.

Taro grinned. "I have this romance thing down pat."

"I have to agree," Yuzu said, then motioned to the pie. "However, if we don't get this pie in the oven soon, so I can actually eat it instead of look at it, this might lose some of it's magic."

"Yes m'am." Taro replied, making his parents laugh, as he put the pie in the oven.

"We actually brought home Italian food for dinner." Taro's dad said, motioning to the two bags he had brought in.

Taro's mom had gone to grab some glasses down from the cabinet. "We can eat dinner while the pie is baking."

"Sounds good to me." Taro said, already pulling some of the food containers out of the bags.

"Great, maybe I won't starve to death after all." Yuzu joked, making them all laugh, as she and Taro shared a look and a smile.

 **Later Sunday evening**

"Wow." Karin said, as she and Toshiro walked hand-in-hand down the street of a town that was just a half hour by train further north than the town they had spent most of the day in. It was decorated with Christmas lights, and there was light snow on the ground.

"I know, this is amazing," Toshiro said, as they reached the part of the town that had a path leading to the train station. "I'm glad we had dinner over here. It was nice to come out of the restaurant to see all these lights."

"It makes me so much more excited for Christmas." Karin added, as they walked down the path to the train station. "Today was crazy. We did so much stuff. We went to the festival, then that little town in Wayhurst. Then this even smaller town. We did so much."

"Let me guess," Toshiro started. "Your favorite part of the day was that one candle you bought.:

"Maybe just a little bit..." Karin trailed off laughing with him, as she looped her arm through his as they started walking over some thicker snow and ice patches. "Honestly, I just enjoyed being able to spend the day with you. At home, we hardly get to do this as one or both of us is usually busy part of the day."

Toshiro nodded, as he smirked." I agree it was nice to spend the whole day together. Except for the half hour that Ichigo and I had to step out of the candle store, because we needed to breathe normal air."

"I'm surprised you lasted in there as long as you did."

"I did it just for you."

"I know, and that just makes me feel so special."

They stopped as they got to the train station, and Toshiro smiled as their eyes met. "You are special."

Karin smiled back, as they didn't say anything for a long moment. It wasn't until the sound of the others voices was heard, as they showed up as well that the two broke eye contact. Karin looking to the others. "Since we're going skiing tomorrow, we'll be back on the train tomorrow."

"We might have to stop at the sweets shop again tomorrow to get you some treats for the ride over." Toshiro said, as they settled on benches to wait for the train to slow to a stop.

"Great idea." Karin replied shortly, quieting down as the others started talking. Her eyes looking away to the town with all the lights. Feeling her heart fluttering, and her cheeks flushing red as her eyes went back to Toshiro, then she looked away. A smile on her face.

 **Karakura Town**

Walking in the house, Yuzu's eyes went over to the couch where her dad was holding Mina and watching TV. Bingo jumping up immediately to greet her as she took off her shoes and coat. "Hey dad."

"Hey stranger," Isshin said, pausing the TV. "You've been gone all day. You must have got a lot of drawing done."

"Well," Yuzu paused as she went over to the couch closest to the door and sat down. Bingo had followed her, and rested his head on her lap for more attention. "After a few hours, Taro came and picked me up. He took me to the apple farm just North of town."

"That must have been nice."

"It was," Yuzu said, smiling at the thought. "We went back to his house, and he showed me how to make an apple from a recipe that had been passed down generations in his family. Then his parents came home and brought dinner so we had that and the apple pie. It was great."

Isshin smiled. "I'm glad you had a great day."

"What about you?" Yuzu asked. "It must have been pretty quiet around the house today."

"Well, I had some company today."

"Really? Who?"

Clearly taken aback, Isshin hesitated, but quickly recovered as Bingo started barking at the sound of a truck driving down the road in the front of the house. "Well, Mina, Bingo, and-" Zorro meowing as he appeared from behind the TV stopped Isshin from talking, as he knocked a few DVDs off the shelf.

Yuzu laughed and got up to put the DVDs back, and picked Zorro up. "Yeah, I'm sure Mina, Bingo and Zorro made their own noise."

At that moment Mina started fussing, as Bingo continued his barking. His nose at the front door. Yuzu set Zorro down on the back of the couch, and whistled for Bingo to follow her over to the back door. "I'll let Bingo out, then maybe we can watch a movie."

"Sounds good to me," Isshin said, as he stood up from the couch. "I'm going to change Mina, then I can make some popcorn."

"Alright." Yuzu said, as she and Bingo walked out on the back porch. She sat down on the steps as Bingo ran down the steps. Her phone buzzing got her attention.

 _Taro: I just got back home alive. Just thought I should let you know ;)_

 _Yuzu: Thanks for letting me know. I had a really good time today._

 _Taro: I did too. I'm probably going to go to bed. I have to work a double shift tomorrow._

 _Yuzu: Alright, well sleep good. I'll talk to you tomorrow._

 _Taro: Goodnight._

Smiling at Taro's message, Yuzu switched over to Instagram, and she was greeted with several photos she had yet to see. There were a few from her friends, one in particular of Hinata and Yukio who had apparently gone out for dinner and a movie that night. She liked that photo and continued to scroll down. Slowing down on a few photos from Orihime, Ichigo and Karin in particular. From all the stuff they were doing on their trip. _Well, it looks like they are having fun at least._

Bingo came up the stairs from the backyard then, ready to go inside, as he nosed at her shoulder. Yuzu pet him a few times, and looked down at her ow n profile on Instagram. Pulling up a photo from today. It was of her and Taro at the apple farm, and how happy they looked had her smiling.

At Bingo nuzzling her arm again, she smiled and stood up. "Alright Bingo, let's go inside."

 **A couple days later, Tuesday**

"So we can go into town and get on a train to go over to the ski lodge," Orihime said, having been looking on her phone. "But I just checked on google maps and it is saying it'll only take us half an hour longer by car."

"I'd rather just go by train again," Tatsuki said, sitting down on one of the bar stools to eat some cereal. "I don't really mind the hour long commute. It wasn't that bad when we went on it yesterday."

"I agree with her." Renji said, a smirk on his face. "I don't think I'll survive if I have to sit in a car where Akira is driving again."

Akira scoffed from the couch. "I'm a great driver, thank you very much!"

Karin chuckled as she finished up her cereal. After putting the bowl in the sink, she tiptoed out of the kitchen and up the stairs to two floors up where her and Toshiro's room was. Going over to look out the windows, she sighed at the pretty view of what seemed like a never-ending forest.

"I thought I noticed you sneaking away."

Hearing Toshiro's voice, Karin looked over her shoulder to see Toshiro standing in the doorway of their room. "I wasn't sneaking away. It's just all the talk about going skiing again has me having war flashbacks to what seemed like permanent hypothermia after we got done yesterday."

"Well, we did end up falling in the snow more than actually skiing towards the end." Toshiro replied, walking over to join her by the windows.

"Apparently skiing takes a lot more muscles that I didn't know I had," Karin said, a smile forming on her face. "It's all fun and all, but after the first two hours, it loses it's fun."

Toshiro chuckled. "Do you want to do something else today?"

"Sure," Karin replied, noticing a look in his eye. "Do you already have something in mind?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Toshiro smiled. "I mean I have some ideas, but w e can just see where the day takes us."

At Toshiro's lack of further explanation, Karin finally nodded. "Okay, but we should probably tell the others that we aren't going with them. I think they are getting ready to leave."

"I can do that if you want to get out of your pajamas." Toshiro said, smirking at the pajama pants and sweatshirt she was in.

Karin stuck out her tongue. "I like my pajamas."

"I do too," Toshiro said, as he walked to the door. "But you're going to freeze to death in those thin pajama pants."

"You're not wrong." Karin replied, smiling as that made him laugh as he left the room.

 **Later that afternoon**

Walking out of the sweets shop, Toshiro chuckled. "I knew you were dying to have more of that fudge."

"It's so good," Karin replied, stopping at a shop a couple down from the sweets shop. Her eyes going to see it full of cute glass blown creatures and other things. "Wow."

Stopping beside Karin, Toshiro slipped his hands in the pockets on his jacket. "According to the sign on the door, they've been making stuff in here for over thirty years."

"Wow," Karin said again, sighing at how amazing everything was. "I wish I was creative enough to do that stuff."

"You are creative," Toshiro smirked. "Everyone in your family is creative in someway."

Karin shrugged. "I mean, my creativity usually is through photography, and not so much anything else."

"Well, you did help Rin plan a pretty successful Halloween party for Raya and her friends." Toshiro pointed out.

"I guess that's true… So I guess my creativity only shines through photography and planning parties for children."

Karin's words had them both laughing. When their laughter settled, Toshiro eyed his watch. "The sun's going down."

"It's okay Toshiro. It's not like I have a curfew here." Karin reminded, still looking at everything in the glass shop.

Toshiro hummed lowly, as he reached up to rub the back of his neck. "No, it's just that there was something else I thought we could do before we head back to the cabin, and it might be helpful to have some sunlight for it."

"Okay," Karin said, raising an eyebrow at the strange look on Toshiro's face. Looking back one more time at the glass shop, she finally turned away. Grabbing another block of fudge from the bag, as they started walking to where the car was parked. "Oh my god, this is amazing."

 **Twenty minutes later**

Driving up around the mountain, Karin was looking around at the endless tress. It was a smaller mountain next to the one their cabin was on, and there wasn't any cabins on this one. "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere." Was all Toshiro said, as they drove around another curve.

"Toshiro," Karin laughed. "That's not very helpful… Are we lost?"

Smirking at Karin's question, Toshiro shook his head. "No, we are not lost."

Karin managed to stay quiet for a minute, then she sighed. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Toshiro replied, finally pulling off on the side of the road, and turning the car off. Karin remained still, as Toshiro took off his seat belt. "We're here Karin."

"Where exactly is _here_?" Karin countered, slowly taking off her seat belt, and she grabbed her gloves before stepping out of the car with Toshiro. When they walked around to meet at the front of the car, she smiled. "You know, this is the part in those scary movies where the girl realizes that her boyfriend is really the serial killer whose been killing her friends the entire movie, then he proceeds to kill her too and throw her body off the side of a mountain so nobody will ever find her."

Toshiro laughed, as he took her hand and started them across the road. "That wasn't really on my agenda tonight."

"Okay, well is it on your agenda any other night?" Karin countered, as they started down the slope of the mountain and into more forest. "I'd like to know ahead of time."

"That's not how the movie goes." Toshiro joked back, smirking as that made her laugh.

"Okay, but seriously. Where are we-"

Toshiro stopping interrupted Karin, as they had reached a part of the mountain that overlooked a very large clearing.

"Toshiro," Karin started at him not moving anymore. "We are in the middle of nowhere."

"It's not technically nowhere."

"What does that even mean-" Karin broke off as she caught sight of something down in the clearing. On the far east side, she caught sight of a horse breaking through the treeline, and her eyes widened as more followed. She stepped forward to get a better look. "Oh my god."

Toshiro watched along with her as the herd galloped into the clearing to come to a halt, as they lowered their necks to graze. His eyes slid over to Karin to see her fixated on the horses.

"This is so cool," Karin said after a moment, as she finally looked at him. "How did you know about this?"

"When we were on the train coming back from skiing yesterday, I talked to some locals, and they brought it up," Toshiro explained, as they both looked back over to the horses. "The herd roams around these mountains a lot, and they often come here to this clearing around this time of year."

Karin smiled again. "This is probably just about the best surprise ever."

"I kind of noticed a couple days ago that you seem to have a like for horses."

"Well no offense to Zorro or his fur baby cousin Bingo, but horses are actually my favorite animal..." Karin trailed off, as they went back into silence for a few more minutes. Finally, she met his eyes again. "Thank you for today."

Toshiro shrugged. "I thought it'd be nice if we got to spend the day together."

"It was really nice. Especially stopping for fudge," Karin said, making them both laugh. She steppe closer and kissed him, then hugged him. Resting her head on his shoulder, as her eyes were down on the wild horses. "I mean it though. Today was amazing. Even if all we did is sit on the couch and watch re-runs of The Office for the millionth time. It'd be just as amazing."

"I couldn't agree more..." Toshiro trailed off, as they pulled back a little to look each other in the eyes. "I love you, Karin."

Hearing those words for the first time made Karin felt the little fluttering feeling her chest, and she smiled warmly. "I love you too."

* * *

 **A/N: I actually died screaming inside writing the last scene of the chapter. I have know this was the time where I wanted Karin and Toshiro to say they loved each other for the first time, but it has been so hard patiently writing the couple chapters before this. I also really enjoyed writing the Yuzu/Taro scenes of this chapter, because I feel like we got to experience somethings from Taro's life. Like going to football games and making an apple pie from a recipe that's been in his family for a while. It makes me super happy.**

 **I also hope you all enjoyed how this chapter goes along with chapter 14 and 15 of Finding What's Lost. If you didn't know, those two chapters focus on the events of their trip more from Orihime and Ichigo's POV. You should go check it out if you haven't read them.**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**


	18. Finishing Up The Semester

_Review:_

" _It was really nice. Especially stopping for fudge," Karin said, making them both laugh. She steppe closer and kissed him, then hugged him. Resting her head on his shoulder, as her eyes were down on the wild horses. "I mean it though. Today was amazing. Even if all we did is sit on the couch and watch re-runs of The Office for the millionth time. It'd be just as amazing."_

" _I couldn't agree more..." Toshiro trailed off, as they pulled back a little to look each other in the eyes. "I love you, Karin."_

 _Hearing those words for the first time made Karin felt the little fluttering feeling her chest, and she smiled warmly. "I love you too."_

* * *

 **Two weeks later, December 10th**

"You are so cute," Karin said, focusing down at Zorro in her arms. After a few seconds, Zorro turned and bit her hand after a moment, before escaping to under the coffee table. "I'm sorry for loving you."

Ichigo laughed from the couch. "That cat is a demon."

"No, he is not! I was apparently just petting him too much." Karin said, rubbing her hand where Zorro had bit her.

Ichigo shook his head and smirked. "That cat has you under his paw."

"And Bingo and Mina don't have you two?" Yuzu asked, entering the conversation as she sat down on one of the couches with a tea.

Orihime laughed from where she was holding Mina. "She's got us there."

"I don't think so-"

Ichigo was interrupted as the front door opened, and Isshin walked inside. "Hey, I'm glad you all are here."

"Dad," Ichigo started, leaning back on the couch after pausing the TV. "You're the one who said we should come over for dinner tonight."

"Yeah, and Yuzu and I live here so it's not surprising that we're here." Karin added, her focus had gone back down on playing with Zorro, who was being nice to her again.

"Right..." Isshin trailed off, as he took his jacket off. After a moment of silence, he remained standing as he looked to them. "I wanted you all to be here because there is something I need to tell you… I've sort of started seeing someone." After his words, Isshin noticed the lack of reaction from the others and rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean that I have started dating someone. For a few months now actually."

Again with the silence, however, Ichigo finally broke it by laughing. His eyes going to Karin. "Wow, you were right."

Karin shrugged, as she had picked Zorro up again. "Of course I was right."

Clearly taken aback, Isshin raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you knew?"

"Dad, you were dressing up way too often for business meetings and dinners. Like it was _extra_." Karin replied, smiling back at him.

Orihime nodded in agreement with Karin. "We noticed it too. On Mina's six month appointment, we stopped by your office afterward, and you were so dressed up."

Isshin sighed, but kept a smile on his face. "Well, there goes me keeping it on the down low."

"So what are the details here?" Karin asked after a moment of silence.

"Her name is Hana. She works at the hospital as a pediatric surgeon-"

"So you two met at the hospital?" Orihime interrupted.

"No we actually met outside the airport. The day we dropped Karin and Yuzu off for their Summer programs actually." Isshin replied, noticing that received silence from the others. "What?"

"Wait a second," Karin said, as she held up a hand. "You've been dating this woman since June?"

Isshin quickly shook his head. "No, not really. We ran into each other at the airport, talked a little, then went our separate ways. It wasn't until my next shift at the hospital that we ran into each other again, and I found out she just transferred to the hospital. Long story short, I asked her out for coffee, then it kind to led to us casually dating."

Ichigo propped his elbow on the arm of the couch. "How long have you two been in an actual relationship?"

"Since mid-August-"

"So you've been dating-no in a relationship-with someone for almost four months, and haven't said anything to us?" Yuzu interrupted with the first thing she's said since their dad told them.

Holding up a hand, Isshin sighed. "I have my reasons Yuzu."

It was quiet for a moment, and after Isshin didn't say anything, Yuzu sighed. "Well, what are they?"

"Hana and I went on some dates in June and July, and finally made it official on the 15th of August. It was around the same time we had a lot going on here," Isshin started, as he finally sat down on the third free couch. "I realized that this was the first relationship I've had that I was completely happy in since you're mother… I didn't know how you all would feel about that, and I didn't want to tell you all unless I was absolutely sure about this."

Karin shrugged in her dad's directions. "It's fine dad. You deserve to be happy."

"So when do we get to meet Hana?" Orihime asked.

"I was actually hoping we could all have dinner tomorrow evening," Isshin replied, his eyes moving over to Karin and Yuzu. "You two can invite Toshiro and Taro if you'd like."

"Okay..." Yuzu trailed off after she and Karin nodded. It wasn't until after their dad went upstairs that she looked to the others. "This is still kind of weird."

Karin shook her head and looked down at her phone. "Not really."

"Does this not seem sudden to you guys?" Yuzu said, then she scowled and stood up. "Of course not, because you all apparently realized he was probably dating someone, and just didn't tell me about it."

"It's not like that Yuzu," Orihime replied, sighing. "We didn't know that you didn't know."

"I think you're overreacting-"

"You try being left out of important family stuff Ichigo." Yuzu interrupted, narrowing her eyes.

Ichigo scoffed. "You and Karin leave me out of stuff all the time."

"That's different." Yuzu and Karin chorused before Karin raised up a hand. "I'm not getting involved though."

"But you are involved." Yuzu said.

Karin slouched back against the couch. "No, I'm not. You're the one who is making this into a much bigger deal than it needed to be."

Yuzu scowled and moved to go upstairs without saying anything response.

After she left, Karin chuckled. "That went well."

 **Later that evening**

"So my dad's dating someone." Karin said as she set her empty ice cream bowl on the table. Her eye's meeting Toshiro's, who had come over after dinner after having just got back from the Soul Society and had brought her some ice cream.

"Really?" Toshiro asked, an eyebrow raised at Karin nodding. "We've been sitting here for nearly thirty minutes, and you're just now telling me this?"

"There was tons of other stuff I had to update you on too."

"Zorro jumping on furniture is more important than your dad dating someone?"

Karin's eyes widened, as she motioned to where Zorro was sleeping on his cat bed under the coffee table. "He jumped on the top of my door- Do I need to show you the video again?"

"No," Toshiro chuckled, smiling as she had already picked up her phone. "Have you met your dad's girlfriend yet?"

Shaking her head, Karin dropped her phone back on her lap. "We're supposed to meet her tomorrow at dinner. You can come if you want, but you don't have to."

"I'd love to," Toshiro said, raising an eyebrow as she sighed. "What?"

"I'm fine with the idea of my dad dating, but it was just weird that he didn't tell us. After making a big deal about me being honest with him and all." Karin replied with a shrug.

"He probably just wasn't ready to tell you guys yet. Remember when you and I first started dating? You didn't want to tell anyone in your family about it."

"I mean, I guess." Karin stopped when she heard footsteps on the stairs, and looked over to see her dad.

Isshin walked over and shook Toshiro's hands. "Oh, hi Toshiro. When did you get back from the Soul Society?"

"About an hour ago." Toshiro replied as he sat back on the couch again after shaking Isshin's hand.

"I guess I probably should have heard you coming over, but I've been on the phone with..."

At her dad trailing off, Karin motioned to Toshiro. "I've already told him, dad."

Isshin nodded and looked back to Toshiro. "Are you planning on joining us for dinner tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Toshiro replied.

Isshin glanced down at his phone, then to Karin. "Have you heard from your sister?"

Karin shrugged, as she looked down at her phone. "Yeah on Snapchat."

Isshin was quiet for a moment. "I don't know what that means."

"If you're asking if she's still alive, I can say that she is." Karin replied shortly, still looking down at her phone.

While that made Toshiro chuckle, Isshin shook his head and sighed. "I hope she's having fun I guess."

After Isshin went back upstairs, Toshiro raised an eyebrow at Karin's look. "What's with the face?"

"My dad thinks Yuzu is spending the night at Hinata's," Karin replied, setting her phone down finally. "She's really spending the night over Taro's. She didn't tell me that, but I just overheard her on the phone with Hinata setting it up earlier."

Toshiro shook his head. "I guess I just don't see why that is a big deal. You sleep over at my apartment every once in a while."

"It's different," Karin said, sighing at Toshiro's continued raised eyebrow. "I have permission to do so. Yuzu never asked for dad's permission, and Taro's parents never said he could have her over. The only reason why she is there is because his parents are out of town for the next couple of days."

"You're not going to tell your dad about this?"

"No… When you and I were first seeing each other, she kind of knew that we were, and didn't say anything to my dad about it. Just like I knew she was sneaking out almost every night all Summer to go party with her friends," Karin replied, laughing at Toshiro's smirk. "It's a sister thing. We both know what the other person is doing, and don't tell dad because chances are the other person knows something we did and can blackmail us."

"There is so much love in your family."

"Haha." Karin said, leaning over and kissing him.

When their kiss broke, Toshiro smiled. "I probably need to go ahead and go back to my apartment."

Reaching over for Toshiro's hand, Karin sighed. "Do you have to?"

"Yes, I need some sleep and you do to," Toshiro replied, standing up from the couch, but smiled when Karin still didn't let go of his hand. "We can see each other tomorrow when you get out of school."

Remaining quiet for a moment, Karin finally got up so she could hug him, and they kissed again. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow," Toshiro said, kissing her again. "I love you."

"I love you too." Karin replied, smiling as Toshiro left, and she watched out the window of him going out to his car before she sat back down. _Tomorrow's dinner is going to be interesting._

 **The next day**

"Wow really?" Karin questioned, an eyebrow raised. "You've traveled to over 90 countries?"

"Yes, it took a good five years, but I did it," Hana replied, offering a smile as she flicked her light brown hair over her shoulder. Her green eyes seeming to light up the room. "It taught me a lot."

"That would be awesome to go to that many countries." Taro spoke up from the opposite side of the table where he was next to Yuzu.

"Taro," Yuzu said, an eyebrow raised. "You've traveled to a bunch of countries too."

"Not anywhere close to 90 though-" Taro was interrupted as Mina's crying was heard through the baby monitor.

Orihime put her fork down and grabbed her napkin to wipe her face. "I'll be-"

"I'll get her!" Karin quickly interrupted, as she had jumped up from her seat.

"Karin." Toshiro said, smirking at how she had dropped her fork with a loud clink, and her napkin fell to the floor.

Zorro jumped up on Karin's chair and started to sniff at the table. Isshin clapped to get the cat's attention. "No, down."

Toshiro, more calmly than Karin, set his fork down and reached over to pick Zorro up. Getting up, he pushed both his and Karin's chairs in, and set Zorro down on the couch before going into the kitchen.

Karin walked out from the hall the study and guest bedrooms were on with Mina.

"She's probably hungry-"

"I'll feed her." Karin interrupted, smiling at her little niece.

Ichigo, who was already half standing up. "Karin-"

"Ichigo," Karin interrupted, waving him off. "You get to feed her all the time. Stop being selfish and share."

Ichigo grumbled something incoherently as he sat down. "I'm not being selfish by wanting to take care of my daughter."

Yuzu shrugged, after taking a sip of her water. "I have to agree with Karin."

"Of course you do." Ichigo muttered with an eye roll.

"Ichigo," Orihime said before that could start an argument. Her eyes moved to Karin. "There's some baby food in the kitchen. Try the pears or carrots."

Karin smirked in Ichigo's direction before she turned to go into the kitchen. She had to stop quickly to keep from running into Toshiro. "Why were you in the kitchen?"

"I had to wash my hands because Satan tried to get on the table." Toshiro replied, smirking back at how that made Karin roll her eyes.

"He is an angel."

"It's not opposite day." Toshiro replied, patting her shoulder and laughing along with the others.

"Haha." Karin said, going past him into the kitchen, and returning a minute later with Mina's baby food.

Hana smiled in Mina's direction. "She's adorable."

"Thanks," Orihime said, offering a smile at Hana. "Do you have any kids?"

"Unfortunately no. That was not something I was able to do." Hana replied, however, she quickly waved off Orihime's guilty for asking look. "It's alright. I'm not afraid to talk about it. I knew from my early twenties that I wouldn't be able to have kids. It was a hard pill to swallow at first, but it inspired me to go into pediatrics. I get my fair share of kids while I'm at work, and it makes me happy. Plus I am all for having some furbabies though."

"Do you have pets?" Yuzu asked.

"I have one cat," Hana replied, as she sipped her water. "She's pretty much the boss of the house, and I just live there."

Karin laughed here. "It must be a cat thing then because Zorro acts like he can just do whatever he wants."

Toshiro smirked. "That's because you let him do whatever he wants."

"So dad," Karin changed the subject after sticking her tongue out at Toshiro. "Is Hana the reason why you changed your mind on me having a cat out of the blue?"

Isshin shrugged. "Possibly."

"I definitely support people adopting animals in need," Hana smiled. "I think Zorro just has character, and he's perfect. I don't know how you were only able to adopt one though."

"Well dad, I like her very much, and I say we keep her." Karin said about Hana, making the others laugh.

 **A couple of hours later**

Yuzu hummed, as she and Taro entered the study. Showing him the drawing she had been working on. Taro's eyes were focused on her. "You were pretty quiet tonight."

"I didn't mean to be." Yuzu replied as they sat down on the bench of the piano. Looking across the room at the drawing.

"Is it because of Hana?"

"No, I really like her. She seemed nice."

"So it was something else?"

Yuzu was quiet after Taro's question before she sighed. "It just seems out of the blue still. Ichigo and Karin apparently already knew about it or at least guessed it a while ago. Neither of them said anything to me."

Taro nodded. "So you feel kind of left out?"

"Yeah, at least they were suspicious of it," Yuzu replied with another sigh. "I had no idea, and was completely blindsided."

"I'm sure there is stuff that you and Ichigo haven't told Karin, or stuff that you and Karin haven't told Ichigo." Taro pointed out.

"You're partly right," Yuzu said, as she smiled. "Karin and I don't often tell Ichigo or even my dad about things."

"Well don't feel too bad about them not telling you this one thing," Taro said, as he took her hand. "They were only guessing and didn't know anything for sure, and I'm sure it wasn't deliberate."

"I guess."

Taro shared a smile with Yuzu, then looked down at his phone. "I have to get home. I don't want to miss curfew."

"It'd be nice if I had a curfew like yours at eleven. Mine is ten, and I kind of feel ridiculous," Yuzu said, then she laughed. "Over the Summer, my dad would let me stay out to eleven or midnight sometimes. That would be nice to have year round."

"I don't even have a curfew over the Summer, because my parents set it to midnight and usually they are asleep by then. They wouldn't even notice if I came home late." Taro said, laughing along with Yuzu this time.

"That's the life," Yuzu stood up with Taro, and they kissed. "Be careful going home."

Taro kissed Yuzu again, as they hugged. "I will."

Yuzu smiled into their next kiss, then she finally let him go. Watching him walk out of the study, she turned back to her drawing on the easel. _I guess I can work on this for a while._

 **A few days later, December 14th**

With her music playing in her ears, Karin was able to focus in on her laptop. She was writing a final paper for the semester, and she was finishing up snacking on an apple and caramel dip. She had been in the writing zone for the last hour, when she felt a hand on her shoulder, she jumped a little. Sliding her headphones off, her eyes met turquoise ones. "What?"

Toshiro smirked. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

"Haha," Karin said, smiling as her eyes moved past him to see the shinigami and Orihime and Ichigo sitting in his living room. "There are other people here."

"There have been for five minutes now." Toshiro said, picking up her empty plate and bowl and moving it over to the sink.

"What are you doing?" Rukia asked her eyes on Karin.

Karin sighed, as she looked back to her computer. "I'm writing a paper, then I have to study for an exam."

Ichigo chuckled. "I certainly don't miss this."

"How could you?" Karin countered, her eyes meeting her brothers. "When you were my age, you were gone from school for months."

"Shit." Renji said, laughing and grinning at Ichigo's glare at his sister.

"Can we please not start this again?" Orihime asked, already see that Ichigo was ready to say something back to Karin.

"We have some stuff to talk about," Toshiro said, getting Karin's attention. "It just seemed more convenient to do it here, as there are some of the other Shinigami filling up Urahara's space."

Karin nodded and started collecting her notebooks and laptop. "I'll move out of the way."

"You don't have to-"

"It's okay," Karin interrupted, as she stood up. "I'm almost done with my paper, and if I stay out here I'm going to get distracted and it'll take me forever to finish it."

"Alright." Toshiro said, kissing the top of Karin's head before she turned to go back to his bedroom.

 **An hour later**

Karin was laying back on Toshiro's bed and had her phone up. Texting with Kimi, when she heard the bedroom door open.

"This doesn't look like writing a paper or studying."

Looking over to Toshiro, Karin smiled. "I finished my paper, but I have to take a break from studying because my brain hurts."

Toshiro laughed as he walked over. "The others just left."

"Great," Karin sat up. "I need food. The caramel dipped apples were a great snack and all, but I need food, food."

"I was just about to ask if you wanted to go get dinner."

"I do, but as soon as we get done eating I have to study a little bit more. I know the material well, but I want to double check to make sure."

Toshiro reached over to pull her to stand up and wrapped his arms around her. "How about we call and order our food, and while we wait we can go through your flashcards?"

"I'm listening." Karin said, smiling as she felt his hands rest on her waist as they kissed.

"If you feel like you know everything, we can go get the food and come back here, and you can spend the rest of the evening with me instead of studying." Toshiro suggested as they kissed again.

When their kiss broke, Karin's smile widened. "I think that's a great idea."

 **A couple days later on the 16th**

"That test was a lot harder than I thought it would be." Hinata complained as they walked out of first period.

"I'm just not big on literature or history," Yuzu said, as they started down the hall. "My strong suit is in math or science."

Hinata shrugged. "I'm not so much a science person, but I can agree with you on the math… I hope I at least get a B on that test today though, or else I will get a C in the class."

Yuzu turned her head and watched as Karin and her friends left the same class, but Karin was high-fiving one of her friends.

"That test was so easy!" Karin's voice was heard.

Yuzu rolled her eyes and turned back to Hinata. "Karin used to not care about school at all, and all of a sudden she's interested in it."

Hinata laughed. "Well, didn't you used to care about school, and now you're not interested in it anymore?"

"I guess you're right," Yuzu said, laughing along with Hinata. "I'm more interested in the party tonight. It's the last day of school for the semester, and I'm ready to celebrate it being over."

"I know-" Hinata broke off as the bell rang, signaling them to go to their second period Math class.

Walking a little further down the hall, they walked into their class and sat down. Yuzu pulled out the math packet they had to turn in. "This is so much more comfortable of a subject for me."

"I'm so glad we did this math packet last night," Hinata said, getting her packet out as well. "The bonus points will help ensure that I keep an A in the class and it can balance out the C or two that I get from some of my other classes."

"You're not going to get Cs-"

"P.E and History." Hinata interrupted, sharing a nod with Yuzu.

"Yeah, those are my lower grades too… I just hope it'll be enough to keep my dad happy, and not encourage him to ground me over our Winter break." Yuzu replied, her eyes focused down on her phone when she got a text from Taro.

 _Taro: I hope your first test went well._

 _Yuzu: Well it was literature, so it went as well as I expected. Which is probably no more than a low B. Good luck on the test you're about to take now._

 _Taro: Thanks. You too._

Yuzu smiled as she put her phone back in her bag after the teacher came in. Her eyes moved to the window after they all turned their packets in. _I'm glad that I'll be able to spend Winter break with Taro and my friends. It's much needed._

 **Later that day**

Walking in the house, Karin smiled at Toshiro sitting on the couch. "I thought that was your car outside but didn't want to get my hopes up."

Toshiro chuckled, as he stood up to kiss her. "Well, I did get my paperwork done earlier than I thought."

Isshin walked out of the kitchen and motioned to the table. "Toshiro brought over dinner."

"Please tell me it's-"

"Chinese," Toshiro interrupted Karin, smiling at her. "I got orange chicken too."

"Thank god." Karin said as she slipped off her shoes and jacket.

Toshiro was quick to reach over and take her hand. "Karin!"

"What?!" Karin countered, slightly alarmed at his sudden raised voice.

Toshiro turned her around to look at her shoulder where there was a big bruise. "How did this happen? How bad is it? Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

At all the quick questions, Karin was taken aback. "It's not really that big of a deal. I just walked through the door-"

Isshin raised an eyebrow, as he saw the bruise as well. "That looks a few days old."

At Toshiro's frown, Karin shrugged. "It's not that big of a deal."

It was quiet for a moment, as Toshiro took a long deep breath. "I don't appreciate that you didn't say anything about this."

"Okay, well I'm sorry. I thought it wasn't that big of a deal. I'll keep that in mind the next time I injure myself," Karin said, noticing that finally brought a smile to Toshiro's face. "Oh and it kind of bothers me when you at like I'm dying when it's not that big of a deal. It's not like I broke a bone or something."

Toshiro finally chuckled and nodded once. "I'll keep that in mind the next time you injure yourself."

Isshin raised an eyebrow as both were now smiling at each other. "That was the most constructive way to avoid an argument that I've ever heard."

Karin met her dad's eyes. "Well it's better to just say what's on your mind, then start a big argument over it."

Toshiro nodded in agreement with Karin. "I don't think we've ever actually had a real argument before… Unless it's over some random fact from a movie or TV show that we've watched before. That usually starts very heated discussions."

"Yeah, then we usually have to drop everything and watch whatever movie or episode we are arguing about, and all ends up right in the world after that," Karin added, laughing along with Toshiro. "So dinner?"

"Yeah, I'm starving." Toshiro said, moving over to the table with her.

Isshin shook his head and smirked. "You two are very strange."

 **Later that night**

Dancing along with Hinata, Yuzu laughed. "I am so happy to be done with the semester!"

"I agree," Hinata said, having to raise her voice to be heard over the voices of the many other people at the party. "I need a break."

"Cheers to that!" Yuzu exclaimed as they tapped their cups together and took a drink. Her eyes found Taro, who had walked over, and she smiled. "Hey!"

Taro raised an eyebrow in Yuzu's direction. "You've been drinking a lot tonight."

"I'm celebrating," Yuzu replied, as she took another sip of her drink. "I'm sleeping over at Hinata's tonight, and her parents are out of town. So I don't have to worry."

Taro still held a frown on his face. "Even so, you should slow down a little on the drinking tonight. You had a pretty rough night a few nights ago, remember?"

This brought a frown to Yuzu's face. "I can do whatever I want to, Taro."

"I'm not saying you can't, but I'm trying to remind you did this a few nights ago and-"

"Taro, I'm fine," Yuzu interrupted, shaking her head. "Why are you being like this?"

"What? Concerned about your well-being?"

"No, you're being all controlling… Why aren't you drinking with me and enjoying the fact that we're about to be on a break from school?"

"I'm trying to look out for you, Yuzu. I can't do that if I'm also out of control drunk."

"I'm not even drunk."

"Yes, you are."

Scowling at Taro's words, Yuzu stepped back from him. "You're getting on my nerves."

Taro's frown deepened, as he shook his head. "That's great Yuzu. I'm sorry that me caring about you gets on your nerves. My bad."

Yuzu was quiet as Taro walked away for a moment, then she turned to go back to where Hinata was getting them more drinks.

"What was that about?" Hinata asked as she handed over a cup to Yuzu.

Setting down her empty one, Yuzu took a long drink from her new one. "Don't worry about it. We're having fun, and that is all that matters."

* * *

 **A/N: So we met Isshin's new girlfriend as Yuzu and Karin are wrapping up the Fall semester at school. If you want to see a little more of Hana, you can check out chapter 16 of Finding What's Lost where she makes an appearance there.**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**


	19. Merry Christmas

_Review:_

 _Taro's frown deepened, as he shook his head. "That's great Yuzu. I'm sorry that me caring about you gets on your nerves. My bad."_

 _Yuzu was quiet as Taro walked away for a moment, then she turned to go back to where Hinata was getting them more drinks._

" _What was that about?" Hinata asked, as she handed over a cup to Yuzu._

 _Setting down her empty one, Yuzu took a long drink from her new one. "Don't worry about it. We're having fun, and that is all that matters."_

* * *

 **A week later, December 23rd**

"That was our kind of first fight, and it seems so ridiculous now." Taro said, laughing along with Yuzu, as they moved up a little in the drive through at Starbucks.

"I was drunk and over-dramatic." Yuzu said once she stopped laughing.

"In all fairness," Taro said, as they stopped again. "I shouldn't have got so mad, because I knew that you had been drinking."

Yuzu turned a little in her seat, as she smiled at him. "I do appreciate that you put up with me still. Even when I'm drunk and a little crazy."

"Well, you put up with me when I'm sober, so it's only fair," Taro replied, as they both laughed again. "So, about Christmas. Up until Christmas Eve my aunt and uncle are going to be at the house, then Christmas Day we are going to visit more family. I don't really know how much we're going to be able to see each other."

"I was going to say the same thing. Usually my family has so much going on around Christmas, it is pretty hard to leave the house," Yuzu said, shrugging. "But maybe we can get together early and see each other."

"Maybe Christmas Eve?"

"As long as it is in the morning I can make that work."

"Perfect," Taro said, leaning over to kiss, before they pulled up to the window. After Taro paid, he handed over Yuzu's vanilla chai tea, and put his own hot chocolate in the cup holder. "What are your plans for the rest of the day?"

Sipping at the hot drink, Yuzu sighed at how nice it felt. "I'm wrapping some last minute presents, and preparing the house to have my family over. If I left it to my dad and Karin, then the house would be the last thing that is prepared before people come over. My dad's new, well I guess not really new, girlfriend offered to help me. So I won't be completely on my own."

Taro pulled out of the parking lot, and glanced briefly her way. "So it's pretty normal of a thing now, huh?"

"Yeah, she comes over almost everyday now that my dad has officially introduced us. She's a really nice person, and obviously makes my dad happy..." Yuzu trailed off, as her eyes picked up on some snow flakes hitting the windshield as they stopped at a red light. "I can't believe that it's already started to snow."

"I know. It's been on and off for the last few days, but it hasn't been cold enough to stick to the roads yet."

"The weather people are saying that it could start sticking after Christmas if it rains."

"Well I hope it waits that long," Taro said, as he leaned over and kissed her cheek. "I want to be able to see you on Christmas Eve. Even if it is only an hour in the morning… I guess I can walk over if I have to. If I don't show up after fifteen minutes though, call the police, because I probably broke my legs and arms."

Yuzu laughed, as she settled for holding his freehand as he started driving again. "Maybe you could stay over longer if it snows though."

Taro nodded and grinned. "I guess that would be a plus to massive amounts of snow."

 **Toshiro's apartment**

Pulling the red plaid throw blanket over her lap, Karin shivered. "It's freezing."

"The heat is on Karin," Toshiro reminded from where he was over by the stove in the kitchen. "You just came inside the apartment. You have to wait for more than two minutes to warm up."

"I can't wait anymore minutes."

Karin's words had Toshiro laughing, as he walked over with two mugs of hot chocolate. "This will warm you up."

Karin accepted one of the mugs from him, and sipped it. "This is so good. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Toshiro said, setting his hot chocolate on the table, and joining her on the couch. Putting one arm around her, he grabbed the remote with his free hand. "What do you want to watch?"

"Christmas movies."

"Why did I even ask?" Toshiro countered, smirking as he went to the Christmas movie section on Netflix. "We narrow that down to a specific one, as this could take forever."

Karin laughed, and sipped her hot chocolate again. "So do you want to go to the Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow night at my house?"

"Sure, dinner would be nice."

"Usually our entire Christmas Eve is spent around the food part. We have a last minute shopping trip in the morning, then we make food most of the day, then we eat so much food that we want to die at the end of the day." Karin replied, smiling as Toshiro laughed.

"Sounds like fun," Toshiro said after he managed to stop laughing. He watched her sip her hot chocolate. "Are you warm enough yet?"

"I'm getting there," Karin said, smiling at him. "It would be a lot warmer if you were closer to me."

"Alright," Toshiro said, smiling as he leaned over and kissed her. Moving a little closer, he wrapped his arm around her, and kissed the top of her head.

 **The next day, Christmas Eve**

"Good morning Toshiro." Isshin greeted after letting him in the house.

"Good morning." Toshiro greeted back, shaking Isshin's hand before taking off his gloves. "It seems to have started snowing again. It's fortunately not cold enough to stick to the road, but it might get there soon enough."

"I was just watching the weather, and they said it's possible for the day after tomorrow," Isshin said as they walked over to the table. "I'm not actually sure if Karin's awake yet. I haven't seen her."

"I'm not surprise," Toshiro sat down at the table, and pulled his phone out. "I got a text from her around two in the morning, and she was still awake wrapping last minute Christmas presents."

Isshin chuckled, and glanced over to the tree. "I was wondering why there was more presents under the tree this morning… Would you like some coffee?"

"That would be great actually-" Toshiro broke off as footsteps were heard on the stairs. A smirk appearing on his face, as it was Karin who appeared half-asleep.

Karin set Zorro down on the back of the couch, and turned to go to the kitchen. Her eyes met turquoise ones and she jumped a little. "Oh my god."

"Good morning." Toshiro said, much more calmly than Karin.

"You scared me!"

"By existing?" Toshiro countered, smirking as her father laughed at that from the kitchen, and Karin just stuck out her tongue.

"I got like four hours of sleep last night, and got woke up my Zorro jumping on my face. I deserve a little bit of a break."

"Thank you." Karin and Toshiro chorused, leading them both to smirking at each other.

"Here." Isshin's voice was heard, then he walked out of the kitchen, and handed Toshiro and Karin both coffee mugs.

Karin sat down at the table next to Toshiro, and took a long drink of coffee. "So what's that plan for today?"

"Hana will be over in an hour or so," Isshin started, as he also sat at the table. "Then we have to go get a few groceries."

"You can go with us if you want." Karin offered Toshiro.

"I can do that," Toshiro said, taking a sip of his coffee. "However, the shinigami's party is going to be around noon, and I'll probably be there for a couple hours… I know you have plans to cook food all day, but I was going to invite you to go with me to the party."

Karin hummed lowly for a moment. "Okay, I will go, but if I'm going to do that as soon as we get back from shopping I have to prep some things, and I might leave the party a little early to come back over here to help with dinner."

"I think we'll be okay here Karin. You don't have to rush around," Isshin pointed out. "Yuzu will be here, and Hana's going to be helping us this year too."

"Okay, well Yuzu won't be available the whole time. She and Taro are doing some Christmas thing because they won't be able to see each other today, or really the next few days-"

"Karin," Isshin interrupted, a smirk growing on his face. "We can figure it out. You don't need to rush around to do everything, because you need to make sure you are enjoying Christmas Eve a little."

Sighing, Karin started writing down a grocery list on her phone. "I will enjoy it more when we have a really awesome dinner tonight."

Isshin and Toshiro both laughed, as Toshiro rested his hand on her arm. "Fair enough."

 **A couple hours later**

"Don't climb on the shelf."

Scowling at Toshiro's words, Karin propped her hands on her hips. "I'm sorry that I can't reach that high."

Toshiro chuckled, as he grabbed what she wanted from the top shelf. "I think what you are really trying to say is: Thank you Toshiro for assisting me and keeping me from falling and ending up in the emergency room on Christmas Eve."

"Thank you." Karin replied, as she stood on her toes to kiss his cheek.

"Alright," Isshin said, as he and Hana walked over from a different aisle. "We got the rolls."

Hana laughed, as she held up a box. "We got distracted by the cute Christmas tree cakes."

Karin nodded. "Yes, I love those!"

"Told you." Hana said to Isshin, smiling as that made Isshin laugh.

"Well look who it is." Ichigo's voice was heard, as he and Orihime approached from the opposite side of the aisle.

Orihime, who was holding Mina, smiled at her daughter. "Look Mina, it's the rest of the family."

Karin skipped right on over to greet her niece. Ichigo focused on the others. "We were just getting some last minute stuff."

"I thought you were at the store yesterday evening?" Toshiro asked, an eyebrow raised.

Ichigo smirked in Orihime's direction. "Well, we tried to shop yesterday. I'm not naming names, but someone and her friend were several tequila shots in and weren't being very helpful.

"I have no idea what he's talking about," Orihime added, after everyone looked at her. She smiled when the others laughed. "We just got done shopping at the pet store for Bingo's Christmas present."

That had Toshiro looking at Karin. "Did you get something for Zorro?"

Karin's jaw dropped. "Oh no."

"We can go after we finish grocery shopping." Toshiro told her, smirking at her sighing heavily.

"I am a terrible cat mom."

The others laughed, as Yuzu approached them with some potatoes and sweet potatoes. "Okay, I know we still have more on our list, but I'm probably going to duck out of shopping early. Taro is nearby and he's just going to pick me up and take me back to the house. Oh and don't forget to get more eggs and butter, because we'll probably need extra for when we have breakfast tomorrow."

"Alright, we'll see you back at the house then," Isshin said with a nod, before Yuzu turned to go towards the front of the store. His eyes moved to Toshiro then. "Speaking of our breakfast tomorrow, you're welcome to come to that as well."

A little surprised that her dad offered, Karin nodded. "Yeah, my dad and Ichigo cook breakfast, and all you have to do is avoid eating the stuff that Ichigo cooks."

"Hey!" Ichigo exclaimed, as the others laughed.

Before Toshiro could respond, Isshin cleared his throat to get attention back to him. "You know since you're already going to be at the house tonight for the party, you could just stay over at the house tonight, and that way you won't have to drive so early in the morning tomorrow for breakfast. There might be ice on the roads if the temperature drops enough."

It was quiet for a moment, as Karin and Toshiro shared a look, but Toshiro offered a smile to Isshin. "We'll decide on that later. I think we have a lot of shopping left that we should focus on."

"Right, we need to get some pie crusts too." Karin said, appreciating the change of subject.

Toshiro glanced at the list on her phone. "I thought this was a last minute shopping trip. Half the stuff on here seems pretty important to the dinner."

"I got distracted by the dessert section last time we were here, alright?" Karin countered, making them all laugh, and she just smiled at Toshiro.

 **At the house**

"You guys certainly decorate a lot for Christmas," Taro said, as they got out of his car, and started to the porch. "I feel like the decorations tripled since I was here a couple days ago."

"It's mostly my dad and Karin."

"You're not into decorating?"

"Well I am, but I am more of the artistic director. They just do all the work part." Yuzu replied, as they got on the porch as she unlocked the front door.

Taro grinned at her. "I guess that makes sense, as a celebrity like yourself shouldn't have to do any of the hard work."

"Don't start that again," Yuzu laughed as they walked inside. "It's so much warmer in here."

"I know," Taro agreed, as they both took off their coats and shoes. "The last few nights I have been sleeping downstairs in front of the fire at my place, because it is so much warmer."

Yuzu raised an eyebrow. "I thought that was because your aunt and uncle are at your house, and your parents told you to give up your room for them to sleep in."

Taro grinned. "That too."

Laughing along with Taro, Yuzu put another log in the fireplace that was mostly burnt out by now, and used some newspaper to get the fire going again. "So tomorrow you're going further up north to visit with the rest of your extended family?"

"Yeah," Taro said, as they moved over to sit on one of the couches. "I'll be back in time for New Years Eve though."

"I know, but that just seems so far away though," Yuzu said, but she smiled at him. "At least we get to see each other for a little bit today."

"True… I know we said no presents, but I kind of couldn't help myself." Taro told her, as he pulled a wrapped gift out of his bag.

"Taro!" Yuzu exclaimed, but she laughed as she got up from the couch. "I can't actually be mad, because I also broke that rule and got you something too."

Taro grinned as she came back over to the couch. "That makes me feel better."

Returning back to the couch, Yuzu accepted Taro's present to her and raised an eyebrow. "Wow, this is heavier than it looks."

"Open it." Taro said, his grin staying on his face.

Starting at the wrapping paper, Yuzu revealed a wooden jewelry box. "Oh wow."

"I worked on it the last couple weeks we were in school in my wood shop class," Taro said, his grin widening at her look. "It took a while to get your name craved in, and I just recently added the mirror in it."

"I love it Taro. It's so pretty," Yuzu said, eyeing the jewelry box for a moment longer. "Your turn."

Accepting the thinner wrapped present from Taro, he opened it to find it was a painted canvas. It was of the view of the green from back at their art program. "This is amazing. We spent so much time here… What is that tiny little thing in the middle? Is that us? That's my snapback."

Yuzu smiled. "I didn't think you'd notice it."

"It's beautiful Yuzu. I love it," Taro said, leaning over to hug and kiss her. "I can stay for another hour. Do you want to watch a movie or something?"

"I'd love that." Yuzu replied, her smile widening as they settled back on the couch. Her eyes moved down to the jewelry box, then over to Taro. She found his focus on her painting, and he was smiling big. _I am so glad he likes it. It was a very special place for us._

 **Two that afternoon**

"I'm back!" Karin called out after opening the front door.

Hana poked her head out of the kitchen. "Hey Karin- oh your dress is really pretty."

"Thanks," Karin said, as she was taking off her jacket and shoes. "It was a last minute thing, as I didn't initially have plans to go to a Christmas party today."

Isshin walked out of the kitchen with Hana. "How was the party?"

Karin shrugged. "I mean it was nice. I had some eggnog, and that tastes a lot different with alcohol in it."

"Well hopefully you didn't have too much," Isshin chuckled. "You might be a danger in the kitchen."

"Don't worry, I didn't." Karin replied, reaching to open the front door again.

"I thought you went with Toshiro." Hana said, having noticed that Karin was the only one who came in.

"I did, but he wanted to stay a little longer. I got a ride here with-"

Bingo's barking interrupted Karin, as he bolted inside. Nearly trampling over Zorro, who hissed and jumped behind the TV.

"Bingo!" Orihime called as she appeared. One hand supporting Mina and the other holding a tray of treats wrapped with foil. "That crazy dog bolted out of the car before I could put his leash on."

"At least he came inside the house," Hana said before she opened the back door for him to go out in the back yard. "Your dress is pretty too. Apparently, I need to go to you and Karin for some tips on what dresses to buy."

"Thank you," Orihime said, having to switch Mina to her other side to take her other jacket sleeve off. "I can't wait to change into a sweater and leggings though."

"Same here." Karin said, coaxing Zorro out from behind the TV.

"Karin!" Yuzu's voice was heard, before she appeared from the kitchen. "Why are you just standing around? There is still so much to do."

"Relax, I have to change."

"You're the one who volunteered to help this year."

"Yuzu," Isshin started after she stopped speaking. "Give her a moment, and she'll be in to help in a second."

Orihime handed Mina over to Isshin and met Yuzu's eyes. "Where do we need to put the food we brought?"

"Desserts go on the long table that's in front of the wall with the laundry room door and the door to the garage," Yuzu said, eyeing Ichigo who just came in with a crockpot full of macaroni and cheese. "Actual food can go anywhere on the counter-tops that aren't immediately next to the stove. But I recommend putting that crockpot on the counter across the room from the stove, as that has a plugin for the crockpot right there."

"Alright." Ichigo said, as he walked by the others to go into the kitchen.

"Is there more in the car?" Hana asked, her eyes on Orihime.

Orihime nodded. "Yeah, we have some desserts and one more main dish."

"I'll give you a hand with that." Hana said as she joined Orihime in walking out.

"Um, hello Karin?" Yuzu questioned as she walked out of the kitchen again.

"Alright already. I'm going to change now," Karin replied, smirking at Yuzu's frustrated look. Her eyes went to Zorro, as she carried him upstairs. "After I change, I've got a huge surprise for you that your amazing aunt Orihime bought you and your cousin Bingo."

 **An hour later**

"I still can't believe this," Karin said a smile on her face at the ultrasound picture in her hand, before handing it back to her older cousin, Kara. "I feel like you just had Sanu five seconds ago."

"I know. We've known for a few weeks now, but it is still kind of unbelievable," Kara agreed, then she sighed. "The symptoms aren't though. Those are very brutally real."

"I can't relate to that, but I'll take your word for it," Karin laughed, scooping up Sanu, Kara's almost 16-month-old son, who had almost ran past her after Zorro. "Where are you going?"

Kara smiled and shook her head. "I think you just saved Zorro's life, as my son was going to probably smother him with too much love."

Karin laughed and moved to the door after a knock was heard. Opening it up, her eyes met turquoise one's, and she smiled. "Hey."

"Hey back," Toshiro said, stepping inside the house, and he kissed her cheek. His eyes going to Sanu, who hid his face on Karin's shoulder. "Who's this?"

"Uh, this is Kara's son," Karin said, as she motioned to her cousin. "She is my-"

"Cousin," Toshiro said, reaching a hand out to shake Kara's. "We briefly met during last year's Christmas party."

"I remember, it's nice to see you again," Kara said, shaking his hand. "Even though a lot has changed since last year."

Toshiro nodded and shared a look with Karin, before looking at Sanu. "For one thing he's much bigger this year."

"I know right? That's what I'm saying." Karin said as Sanu started to wiggle out of Karin's arm.

"Cold." He said as he wiggled more to be put down.

"I know, I'm sorry. Go play where it's nice and warm," Karin said, setting him down and watching him cross the room over to the play mat where Emi was. Her eyes went back to Toshiro after the front door was shut, more specifically, to the bag he was carrying. "So you're staying the night?"

Toshiro shrugged. "Only if you want me to."

"Of course I do," Karin said, kissing him, then taking his hand as they went upstairs to her room. "Let's go ahead and put your bag away, then we can try to taste test things since dinner is not officially ready yet."

Chuckling, Toshiro slipped his bag off his shoulders once they were inside her room. "I don't want to be scolded by your sister."

Karin sat on her bed after grabbing some Christmas socks from her dresser and put them on. "Honestly, I was surprised when my dad offered you to spend the night."

"I could tell. That's why I said we'd talk about it later," Toshiro said, sitting down on her bed. "You know that I would happily spend every night with you, but I wouldn't want to do this if it was going to make you uncomfortable."

"You know that you've spent the night here before right?"

"Well, that was one time, and your dad didn't know about it," Toshiro countered, his eyes going to Zorro, who jumped on the bed. Bells jingling on the Christmas collar that he was wearing. "What is that?"

Karin smiled, as she picked Zorro up. "It's his Christmas collar. Orihime got it for him. It matches Bingo's."

Toshiro raised an eyebrow. "Please tell me that you are going to take that off of him before we go to sleep tonight because that is going to get on my nerves."

"We'll see," Karin said, as she finished petting Zorro, and got up. "We're almost done with dinner really. We are just waiting on the ham, and a couple of the side dishes to finish up in the oven. Oh and the rolls still have to go into the oven once a spot is free for them, but just so you know the sweet potato casserole smells amazing."

"Have you taste tested it?"

"I would have if Hana didn't catch me," Karin replied, as they walked out of her room. "We need to go to the backyard. Raya is back there running around with Bingo and Snow."

"Snow?"

"It's Kara's and her husband's new dog," Karin explained, as they got downstairs. Once out on the back porch, she smiled at the sight of Bingo and Snow chasing each other around the yard. "Wow, they are going fast."

"They've been doing this for the past ten minutes," Ichigo said with a smirk, as he looked back at Toshiro. "So you finally made it."

"Yeah," Toshiro said, his eyes moving to Kara's husband, Jiro, as they shook hands. "We met briefly at the Christmas party last year, but I don't think we've been formally introduced."

"Yeah, I occasionally see you around Urahara's, but you're usually pretty busy." Jiro replied after they shook hands.

Karin nodded, and crossed her arms over her chest. "Tell me about it. He never pays attention to me anymore."

"You're being dramatic today." Toshiro chuckled.

"That's basically my middle name," Karin said, smiling back at him before she moved over to Raya, who was sitting on the back steps. "Oh my goodness, you look freezing. How about we go inside and get some hot chocolate?"

"I thought we weren't supposed to have any until after dinner." Raya said as she stood up.

"We've got to be very sneaky." Karin replied, reaching a hand out for Raya.

Kei smirked from where he was sitting at the patio table. "If Rin asks, I wasn't here listening to you corrupting her."

"Good. Let's go Raya." Karin said as they went back to the door.

 **That evening**

Yuzu pulled her legs up on the couch and bit into the rice crispy treat. "I'm glad you guys got to stay over."

"We're glad too," Orihime said, finishing off her own rice crispy treat, as she continued to play with Bingo and one of his toys. "It'd be nice to have Christmas at our house and all, but with Mina so young, we figured that we'd wait another year or two."

"Now we don't have to wake up early to drive over here tomorrow morning for breakfast." Ichigo added, gently rocking Mina back and forth on his thighs to try to get her to go to sleep.

"Speaking of Christmas morning," Orihime started, as she motioned to the front door. "We need to put Bingo's stocking and put it up next to Zorro's."

"Bad idea," Toshiro said, motioning to where Zorro's stocking was now high up on a shelf. "Zorro already tried to knock his down, and I'm sure Bingo would try to take down the entire fireplace set up if you did."

Ichigo laughed and met Orihime's eyes. "Maybe we should just put it up tomorrow morning before we open our presents, and pretend like it's been there all night."

A timer going off in the kitchen had Hana standing up. "The cookies are done."

"The hot chocolate should be ready too." Isshin added as he got up to go with her.

Yuzu's attention went to her phone, as the others started talking about what Christmas movie they were going to watch. Her smile widened as a text from Taro popped up.

 _Taro: I'm completely about to die from all the food I just ate. Thought I'd say goodbye while I could._

 _Yuzu: Lol, I had a lot of food too. Now my family is trying to feed me more dessert and hot chocolate._

 _Taro: That does sound good right now. Even with my close to food coma state._

 _Yuzu: Did you have a good Christmas Eve?_

 _Taro: Yeah, my mom and aunt drank a lot of wine, and that was quality entertainment. Then me, my dad, and my uncle went to the basement and played some video games for the past few hours. So it's been a pretty good day._

Yuzu smiled at that, when Taro double texted her.

 _Taro: I think my favorite part of the day, however, was an hour this morning where I got to see my favorite person. You might know her. This celebrity artist that happened to give me the best painting she's ever done, and it is happily hanging up over my bed now._

 _Yuzu:_ _I am happy that you liked the painting. I really love my jewelry box. Every time I see it, it makes me smile._

 _Taro: That makes me really happy… I know you're spending time with your family, and I think my dad and uncle want to play some more video games._

 _Yuzu: Alright, well it sucks that I won't be able to see you for the next five days, but maybe we'll at least be able to text and call each other._

 _Taro: Of course. I don't think I'll be able to make it through the trip without you._

Yuzu's smile widened as she texted back goodnight.

 _Taro: Goodnight Yuzu._

Smiling as she turned her phone off, Yuzu met Ichigo's eyes. "I can take over with Mina if you want."

"That'd be great actually," Ichigo said, as he handed Mina over. "I'll go help dad bring the hot chocolate over."

Adjusting so she could hold Mina to her chest, Yuzu watched the others go into the kitchen, then focused down on Mina for a few minutes.

Karin was the first of the others to come out of the kitchen, and she handed Yuzu a hot chocolate mug. "Full of marshmallows, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup."

"Thank you." Yuzu accepted and took a sip of the hot chocolate.

Karin sat down on the couch beside her and sipped on her hot chocolate as well. It left behind a foam mustache, matching the one on Yuzu's face, and they both laughed. "So have you talked to Taro at all today?"

"Yeah, we were just texting each other goodnight actually."

"What's he been up to today?"

"Apparently his mom and aunt are wine drunk," Yuzu replied, laughing as she set her hot chocolate down, then used both hands to rest Mina down in her rocker sleeper, as it appeared she fell asleep. "He's been playing video games with his dad and his uncle for the last several hours."

"Sounds like a nice Christmas Eve," Karin said, chuckling as she sipped her hot chocolate again. "That jewelry box he made you is beautiful. He's really talented."

Yuzu's smile grew, as she looked at the jewelry box on the coffee table. "I love it. The fact that he made it for me is just even more special."

"When is he leaving tomorrow?"

"I think in the morning…" Yuzu trailed off and sighed. "It sucks, but at least he'll be here for New Years."

Toshiro walked over and sat down, and took a sip of hot chocolate. "I feel like I'm going to go into a sugar coma from all the food, then all the dessert, and then the hot chocolate."

"Same, but here we are drinking more hot chocolate and about to eat some cookies," Karin said, her eyes on the TV, as she found a Christmas movie. "Let's watch Elf. That is my all time favorite movie to watch this time of year."

Yuzu nodded in agreement. "Same."

"I've never seen it-" Toshiro broke off, as both Karin and Yuzu looked at him with wide eyes. Waving off their looks, he shook his head. "So don't spoil anything for me, and I'm sure it'll become my favorite Christmas movie too."

"Karin." Yuzu said, now focusing on her sister.

"What? I don't spoil movies-"

"Yes, you do." Yuzu and Toshiro chorused, making them all laugh.

 **The next morning, Christmas Day**

Scowling as Zorro swatted at the piece of wrapping paper Karin was putting in the trash bag, she tried to grab the last of the stray wrapping paper pieces to put away. However, Zorro readied himself and jumped right into the bag of wrapping paper. "Zorro!"

Toshiro chuckled, as he walked over and pulled Zorro out of the bag. He tossed one of the new cat toys Zorro got for Christmas across the living room to give the black cat something else to focus on.

"Thank you." Karin sighed as she had to put the pieces Zorro knocked out of the bag back in.

"It's no problem." Toshiro replied, then he helped her put the rest of the pieces in the bag.

Once they collected all the trash left over from all the gift unwrapping that morning, Karin sat back down by the fire and the tree. "I can't wait for breakfast. I am starving."

"I definitely saw you eat three cookies and a rice crispy treat left over from last night a few minutes ago." Toshiro smirked as he set the trash bag by the door, and sat down next to her on the floor.

"That doesn't count." Karin replied, grinning as that made Toshiro laugh.

Checking out the back door, Toshiro glanced back to Karin. "Since the others are out back playing with Bingo and his new toy, maybe we could do our gifts now."

"Okay," Karin said, grabbing a big bag from under the tree, and she passed it over to him. "You go first."

Pulling out the paper, Toshiro smiled as he pulled out a new jacket, beanie, and some thick wool socks. "I actually really appreciate this, because apparently, my Winter attire is lacking this year."

"I was thinking that you could pull off a beanie." Karin added, smiling as Toshiro put it on his head.

"How do I look?"

"Really hot actually," Karin replied, and they both laughed. Reaching for another present under the tree, she handed it over to him. "This one too."

Toshiro raised an eyebrow after he picked the present up. "This is pretty heavy."

"Open it." Karin said, smiling.

Starting at the wrapping paper, Toshiro's eyes widened as it revealed a hand-crafted wooden chess board and pieces. "This is really nice."

"I got it from that shop next to the glass shop in Wayhurst when we were on a trip. Well, I didn't get it right then. I ordered it before we left, and had them ship it to the house," Karin said with a shrug. "On another note, I still have yet to win a game, so I bought it for that reason too."

Toshiro laughed as he examined the board a little more closely. "I appreciate it Karin. The chess board, the jacket, the socks, and of course the beanie… Now it's your turn."

Karin smiled as she accepted a present from him, and unwrapped it and slipped the lid of the box off. "No way..." She trailed off, as she pulled out the full thing to show it was a Finding Dory sweatshirt with Hank on the front. "I mentioned this back in June. How did you remember that?"

"It was a pretty memorable night actually." Toshiro replied as he winked at her.

Slipping the sweatshirt on over her pajama top, Karin's smile widened at how comfortable it was. Looking back down at the unwrapped box, she raised an eyebrow and picked up another layer of tissue paper to find a small box. Opening it, she found herself looking at a small glass blown horse. "Oh my god."

"It was funny that you brought up the glass shop in Wayhurst," Toshiro said, watching her admire the small glass horse. "I actually picked it up before we left to come home from the trip last month."

Admiring the beautifully crafted glass horse, Karin broke out into a big smile, as she met Toshiro's eyes. "Thank you, Toshiro. I love you."

"I love you too," Toshiro replied, leaning over to kiss her and hug her. "Merry Christmas."

"Oh wow," Yuzu's voice was heard, as she came in from the back porch with a bundled up Mina in her arms. "Mina's little nose started to get a little pink, so we came back in."

As Yuzu came into the living room, Karin held her arms out for Mina. "Let me see her, I'll get her all warmed up."

"Alright," Yuzu said, passing their niece over, as she started to take off her shoes. "Hana and Orihime have been tossing Bingo's new toy back and forth, and it's the cutest thing watching Bingo run around so happily."

Karin, who had used Toshiro's hand to stand up, grabbed Mina's blanket from her rocker sleeper to wrap around her niece after she took the puffy jacket off her. "Alright Mina, we are going to go watch Bingo from the window, so that way we can stay nice and warm inside the house, but not miss any of the fun going on outside."

Toshiro chuckled, as he walked with Karin over to the back window.

Yuzu remained in the living room as she hung up her jacket and scarf. A knock on the door kept her from going to join the others, and she unlocked the door and opened it up. Her eyes met Taro's, and her jaw dropped a little. "Taro? What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be driving to your relatives with your parents?"

"I am," Taro replied, then they kissed once. "However, I negotiated a little, and I am going to drive separately so I could spend a little time this morning with you. Even if it is only a couple of hours."

Laughing giddily, Yuzu kissed Taro again and stepped aside so he could come in the house. "I am so happy. We were just about to have breakfast, and you're welcome to join us."

"That'd be great actually." Taro said, taking off his shoes first.

Isshin had just come out of the kitchen and smiled when he saw Taro. "Hey there, thought we wouldn't be seeing you until New Years."

"Well, I managed to find away to make sometime this morning," Taro replied, as he stood closer to the fireplace to warm up a little. "This fire is amazing right now."

"I know." Yuzu agreed as she continued smiling at Taro.

Noticing Yuzu's smile, Taro raised an eyebrow and smiled himself as he was taking off his jacket. "What?"

"I'm just so glad you're here." Yuzu told him, stepping forward to kiss him again.

"I can set another plate." Ichigo said as he noticed Taro was here after bringing out some silverware for the table.

"I can do it." Karin volunteered.

"No, I'll do it," Toshiro said, motioning to Mina, who Karin was holding. "You are busy at the moment."

"I feel like we're missing people." Taro said as he glanced around.

"Hana and Orihime are out back with Bingo." Yuzu explained as they sat down on the couch.

Taro's eyes went to the chess board on the table. "Wow, this is a nice chess board."

"I got that for Toshiro for Christmas." Karin said, glancing over from where she was still standing with Mina by the back window.

"It's really nice," Taro repeated, as he eyed it closer. "Whoever made it knew what they were doing."

Toshiro, who had returned from the kitchen with another plate from the kitchen, walked over to the living room. "She got it from a shop up North in Wayhurst, where we went on our trip in November."

"I remember all the pictures Yuzu showed me of the trip." Taro said, nodding his head as he still eyed the board.

"Want to play a game?" Toshiro asked, noticing Taro's interest.

Taro's eyes went to Yuzu. Noticing him looking at her, Yuzu smiled. "Go ahead. I'm just happy that you're here."

"Sure," Taro said to Toshiro before he turned back to face Yuzu. "You're all smiley."

"I have a reason to be." Yuzu replied as they kissed once.

"Merry Christmas Yuzu." Taro said, as their kiss broke.

Yuzu looped her arm through his and rested her head on his shoulder happily. "Merry Christmas."

* * *

 **A/N: This was a long Christmas chapter, but there was just so many things I wanted to include in it. I hope you enjoyed it. Chapter 17 of Finding What's Lost goes along with this Christmas chapter, and if you want to see more of the Kurosaki Christmas from Orihime and Ichigo's perspectives, you should go head on over there and give it a read.**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**


	20. Best Friend

_Review:_

" _Sure," Taro said to Toshiro, before he turned back to face Yuzu. "You're all smiley."_

" _I have a reason to be." Yuzu replied, as they kissed once._

" _Merry Christmas Yuzu." Taro said, as their kiss broke._

 _Yuzu looped her arm through his, and rested her head on his shoulder happily. "Merry Christmas."_

* * *

 **A week later, January 2nd**

"I'm so glad you came with us," Hinata said, looping her arm through Yuzu's as they walked out of the elevator. "Our annual New Year trip might actually be bearable with my best friend here."

"Well, Orihime's stayed here before I think," Yuzu said, her eyes sweeping the hotel around them. It was in Road Island, two and a half hours West from Karakura Town. Orihime's birthday was held here last year for her and her friends, and she also returned here in October. "She really liked the place."

Hinata smiled at someone they passed, before they turned down the next hall. "At least we know this place is good then… New Years was wild."

"I don't know how we are still alive," Yuzu said, internally cringing at the thought of New Years. "We stayed out with my family for the New Years festival, then we went to that party and didn't come home until five in the morning. I got like maybe two hours of sleep that night."

"I barely slept last night on top of barely sleeping the night before. I'm pretty sure I am running on the fumes of my three coffees this morning," Hinata laughed along with Yuzu, as they finally got to the room they'd be staying in. "I'm glad I went with you and your family to the festival though. My parents were busy taking my little sister around, and it would have been not as fun."

"We did get to hang out with your older sister for a little while."

"True, but at least she's not still in elementary school and completely annoying like the little," Hinata replied, opening the door to their room, and they walked in. "Plus my older sister was with her fiance, so it wasn't like we were hanging out really. We were just together but separated. Thank god we have separate rooms on this trip, and I don't have to be stuck with my family more than I have to be."

"Yes god forbid you spend time with your family on a _family_ trip," Yuzu shot back, laughing along with Hinata, as they set their stuff down in the room. Taking in the room, Yuzu shrugged. "This place is pretty nice."

Hinata moved over to the balcony doors and pushed them open. "Wow, we're right on the beach. This view is amazing."

Joining Hinata out on the balcony, Yuzu pulled her jacket a little closer to herself and looked around. "It is pretty, despite it being cold… Want to go on a walk on the beach?"

"Yeah, just let me put on sandals. I know it's cold out, but I don't want to walk in sand with socks on."

"So you think freezing our feet off is better?"

"It's technically warmer here than in Karakura Town, and it's really just the wind that makes it seem colder." Hinata pointed out, as she pulled her sandals out of her bag.

"Okay," Yuzu agreed, as she got her own sandals out. "But I think we'll probably be sitting by the fire in the lobby for ten minutes after our walk on the beach."

 **Out on the beach**

Scooping some shells up off the sand, Yuzu studied them, before she had to jog and catch up with Hinata. "I thought you were going to wait for me."

Glancing up from her phone briefly, Hinata shrugged. "I'm sorry. I started walking without realizing how far away I was getting."

Yuzu laughed and raised an eyebrow. "Sexting Yukio?"

"Yuzu!" Hinata exclaimed, but joined her laughing.

"Changing the subject now… It's refreshing to have the sun out, after spending the last days at home with cloudy skies and snow," Yuzu commented, as they continued walking down the beach. "There is a hot tub in the place we're staying at."

"I forgot about that," Hinata said, and as they walked a little further she sighed. "I wish we lived near a beach. I love the city and all, but I could see myself living on a beach."

"So you're saying that when we go to college, we need to go somewhere that's near a beach?"

"That's all I want," Hinata replied with a smile. "Of course, we would never get any studying done and we would probably fail all of our classes."

Yuzu raised an eyebrow. "How is that different from what we are doing in Karakura Town?"

"We didn't fail our classes," Hinata replied, then she shrugged. "At least not yet anyways… All I see in our future is sandy beaches, warm weather, and really cute guys- Not that I'm going to be looking because I am dating Yukio."

Yuzu laughed at how Hinata hurriedly added in that last part. "So you see yourself dating Yukio that long?"

"I mean I guess so… I don't really know actually," Hinata admitted, crossing her arms over her chest, as she shrugged. "I'm only fifteen. I don't know for sure where I'll be in three and a half years… What about you and Taro?"

It was quiet as Yuzu thought for a moment. "I mean it's like you said. We can't really tell what our future will be like."

"But?"

Finally, a smile broke out on Yuzu's. "Honestly, I have no trouble picturing a future with Taro."

"Wow, you make me feel bad."

"No, don't feel bad. It's normal not to know where you are going, and maybe I'm just more imaginative about my future love life than you are," Yuzu said, smiling as she nudged Hinata's arm. "Or maybe your focus is only on your future on the beach."

"You're not wrong." Hinata said, reaching down to take her sandals off, as the sand was getting wedged in-between her feet and the sandals.

Yuzu's phone buzzed, and it was a text from Taro asking if she had time to talk. "Uh, Hinata-"

"Go ahead and call him," Hinata interrupted, as she held up her own phone. "I've got a boyfriend of my own, who needs to give me some attention."

Laughing as she dialed Taro's number, Yuzu put the phone up to her ear, as they continued walking down the beach.

 **Karakura Town**

"Hey dad!"

"Hey." Isshin's voice was heard from the kitchen.

"Come inside it is freezing." Karin said back to Natsuki, as they both came in and hurriedly closed the front door.

"My mom is going to pick me up in a couple hours," Natsuki said, a big smile on her face, as they took off their shoes. "We're going to get up early tomorrow morning, and go car shopping."

Karin smiled. "It must be nice to already be sixteen and be able to drive yourself places."

"My birthday was only a few days ago, and I just got my license. It still has yet to hit me." Natsuki replied, slipping off her jacket.

Isshin and Hana both walked out of the kitchen, and Karin offered them a smile. "Oh I didn't know you were here Hana. I didn't see your car in the driveway."

"It's in the shop right now." Hana explained.

"Uh Natsuki, this is Hana, my dad's girlfriend." Karin introduced them before she reached down to pet Zorro.

"How was soccer practice?" Isshin asked as he and Hana sat down on the big couch.

Karin shared a look with Natsuki. "It was awesome. It's nice that we're both on the team because I don't really know many of the other girls."

"I'm sorry," Hana said, as she set her cup of tea on the coffee table. "Didn't you play soccer in middle school? Shouldn't some of those girls be on the team?"

"I mean I guess so. I didn't hang out with them that much in middle school," Karin replied, smirking in Natsuki's direction. "At least someone I regularly hang out with is on the team."

"Shout out," Natsuki said, as she was busy trying to capture Zorro from under the Christmas tree. "I can't believe you guys still have your Christmas tree up. Literally December 26th my parents take the tree and decorations down."

Isshin raised an eyebrow at Karin. "Speaking of, when are we taking this stuff down?"

"I'm thinking that we just leave it up for as long as possible, or before the next holiday we decorate the house for." Karin replied, sitting on the floor next to where Natsuki was playing with Zorro and one of his toys.

Hana laughed at that, but Isshin shook his head. "I'm thinking today."

"Or today," Karin agreed after noticing her father's frown. "Toshiro should be coming over later today, and I can ask him to help. However, I think I might have to do something nice like feed him or something. So could he have dinner with us?"

Isshin smirked and he nodded. "Sure. I'll probably be ordering pizza anyways."

"You should stay for dinner as well." Karin offered Natsuki, as they both stood up after Zorro ran away from them.

"Does that mean I have to participate in taking down decorations?" Natsuki countered as she looked around. "Because no offense, you guys take the decorating way too far, and it looks like this would take an army of people to take down."

Karin laughed, as she propped a hand on her hip. "It'll give us more time to discuss what car you are thinking about getting tomorrow."

"True. Alright I'll help." Natsuki agreed as they grabbed their bags from the ground to take upstairs.

"Before you two go up there," Isshin said, raising a hand. "What kind of pizza do you want?"

Karin hummed. "Supreme."

"I second that, but with extra bacon." Natsuki added.

"Ooo," Hana said, her eyes on Isshin. "I second the extra bacon part."

"Alright, I'll order it in about half an hour or so, and it should be here in the next hour and a half." Isshin said, picking up the remote for the TV.

"Sounds good," Karin said before she and Natsuki went upstairs to her room. "I am feeling the pain from soccer practice. I forgot that there are certain muscle groups that we use that I don't usually use the rest of the year. I think we need to go to the gym."

Natsuki laughed shortly. "Yeah, we can do that when you're not busy with your boyfriend or working. Which is basically going to be never."

"I'll make time," Karin said, grabbing some other clothes from her closet. "Since I work at the gym, I can get in for free, and I can bring a friend with me."

"Perfect-" Natsuki broke off, as she looked down at her phone with a smile. "I have to call my boyfriend real quick. You can go take a shower first."

"Okay, tell Kohaku I said hello." Karin replied, leaving her room to go into the bathroom. A smirk on her face, as Zorro walked in as well, and he jumped up on the rim of the bathtub. "Hopefully you don't fall in..."

 **The next day, Road Island**

"This boutique is so cute." Yuzu said as they walked into a small brightly colored boutique near the boardwalk.

Hinata hummed lowly and crossed her arms as they walked into the store. "I don't really know how much this fits in with our style though."

"We've got a style?" Yuzu smirked with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah. I mean all this stuff is all bright and pretty and-" Hinata paused to hold up a dress. "Pink."

Yuzu shrugged. "I like the color pink."

"But you look so much better in red," Hinata replied, however, she quickly shook her head. "Not that you don't look good in pink, but you look good in everything so it doesn't really count."

Chuckling at Hinata's words, Yuzu continued around the rack they were looking at. "We have to go out of the box sometimes."

Hinata's eyes were busy focusing on her older sister from across the store. "Yeah, I guess… My sister and mom have been arguing about who they are inviting to my sister's wedding, and it's been major drama. She wants me to be a bridesmaid for some reason."

"Wow, that's shocking that your sister would want you to play a part in her wedding," Yuzu said, smirking as that made Hinata roll her eyes. "Absolutely shocking."

"Haha," Hinata said, as they moved onto another rack of clothes. "You should see the color scheme she wants though. She wants orange for her bridesmaids. Orange! I look terrible in orange. It doesn't go with my skin tone or hair."

"Maybe she's getting revenge on you for complaining about being a bridesmaid."

"Probably."

"I was joking."

"I'm not," Hinata sighed, her eyes going back to her sister across the store, then back to Yuzu. "You know, when I suggested we go shopping, I was hoping we can find stuff to wear to that party tonight. Not bright colorful things."

Yuzu motioned to the rest of the boutique. "I'm sure there is something here we can work with."

Hinata scowled. "If it's orange, burn it."

"Yeah, because I want to get arrested today." Was Yuzu's sarcastic reply, as they both laughed.

"Hinata! Yuzu! Come look at this!"

"We can talk about this later," Hinata said after her sister called for them. "Coming Jules!"

"Your sister hates when you use that nickname." Yuzu pointed out as they started their way over to Hinata's sister.

"Why do you think I use it?" Hinata countered, smirking as they continued.

 **Karakura Town**

 _Walking up concrete steps. Looking forward to the door, she raised an eyebrow at the tall double oak doors in front of her. On each of the doors, there was a colorful window with full trees on them._

 _She turned around to the endless white room. Turning back around to face the concrete steps and the double oak doors. She took a step towards them. Reaching out, she attempted to open the doors to find they wouldn't budge. Beginning to feel frustrated, she continued trying to push on the doors, but they remained sealed shut. The colorful windows with the trees shining._

Karin opened her eyes to find herself on a street corner, as she was waiting for the sign to change for her to cross the crosswalk. Having just left school, she was on her way to work, but had to take a different way there as there was construction blocking her usual path. Hurrying across the crosswalk when she could, she focused back on the memory of her dream. _What is so damn special about those doors and windows-_

Stopping quickly after taking another corner, her eyes caught onto the sight of colorful glass windows. Taken aback at how they seemed familiar, she walked the rest of the way around the building to the front, and her jaw dropped at the sight of two tall double oak doors with colorful windows with tees on them. "Am I dreaming?"

After waiting a few minutes to see if she'd wake up, Karin took out her phone and took a picture of the doors, then walked up the stairs and inside. Finding herself in a very normal library. Walking around for a moment, she raised an eyebrow when the 'normal' factor seemed to grow more evident. _Why have I been dreaming about a library?_ Her phone buzzed with a text from Kimi.

 _Kimi: Um, where are you? Our shift starts in three minutes._

Texting back that she was almost there, Karin slipped her phone back in her pocket and turned around to look at the library one more time. When nothing seemed to jump out of her, she sighed and turned to leave. _This doesn't make any sense._

 **That night in Road Island**

Filling up her cup, Yuzu's eyes swept her surroundings. She and Hinata were visiting one of their friends from the art program, who was hosting the party they were at. They were around a large indoor pool, and there were tons of people there.

"So, you having a good time?"

Yuzu turned to meet blue eyes of a blonde haired guy she had noticed refilling his drink after she did. "Uh yeah. I've never been here before."

"I live around here," the guy said, leaning against the same wall as her. "So this isn't my first time."

Feeling a strange feeling from the guy, Yuzu shrugged and looked away out to the pool. "It must be nice to live so close to the beach."

"It is pretty nice. It's a lot warmer here, and we get to go swimming most of the year," the guy continued. "Usually when it gets to this season though there are a lot of indoor pools."

"Ah..."

"We also have hot tubs indoors as well to keep us warm as well," the guy said, reaching over to rest his hand on hers to get her to look at him. "There's a hot tub upstairs I was thinking about going to if you want to go with me."

"Uh no thank you." Yuzu replied, realizing the guy was flirting with her.

The guy didn't seem phased by her answer. "Come on. I'd like to get to know you… You're so beautiful."

Moving her arm away from his hand, Yuzu shook her head. "I have a boyfriend."

"Your boyfriend isn't here-"

"That doesn't change anything," Yuzu interrupted the guy, and turned to go back to where Hinata was. "That was weird."

"What?" Hinata asked, looking over to Yuzu, who had sat down next to her.

"Some guy just hit on me."

Hinata laughed, but raised an eyebrow at Yuzu's frown. "What? Why wouldn't a guy hit on you Yuzu? You're attractive so it's not really a surprise."

Yuzu still kept her frown on her face. "That never happens to me at home."

"Obviously. People know you're dating Taro at home, and they aren't going to try to hit on you there unless they are a real sleazebag," Hinata explained, smiling at Yuzu's remaining confused look. "We're not at home here. Only a few people know us from the art program, and the rest are strangers… You should take it as a complement."

"I don't want to talk about it anymore..." Yuzu said, glancing around the room to see the guy was staring in her direction, and she focused back on Hinata. "I don't think I want to stay here much longer. I know we've only been here for an hour, but that guy is staring at me and it's creepy."

"No problem," Hinata said, as she stood up. "I'll go steal a bottle of vodka, and you go grab some coca-cola."

"You'll leave the party with me?"

"Of course I will. It's not going to be fun if that guy keeps making you uncomfortable the entire time we are here," Hinata replied, winking at Yuzu. "We'll go back to our room at the hotel, and we can just get drunk and watch Netflix or something."

Yuzu smiled finally, as she stood up as well. "Thank you. You are the absolute best friend I could ever ask for.

 **The next morning**

"My head feels like it is about to explode."

Groaning, Hinata handed over some Tylenol and a glass of water. "Here, hopefully this helps."

"Thanks," Yuzu said, taking a couple Tylenol, then she set the glass on the bedside table. Laying back on her pillows, Yuzu brought a hand to her throbbing head. "I'm going to die."

Hinata laughed lightly. "Same… We only have a couple days left on vacation, and then we'll be back to our lives in Karakura."

"This vacation has been nice and all, but I miss Taro."

"Well, I miss Yukio, but I mean if I had an option to stay an extra few days here, I would," Hinata said, then she smiled at Yuzu. "You just think differently, because you _love_ Taro."

Feeling her cheeks grow warm, Yuzu looked up at the ceiling. "We haven't gone there yet, okay?"

"Seriously?" Hinata countered, an eyebrow raised. "You two had sex once, and still can't manage to say you love each other?"

"That was several months ago, and I don't see how the two are related… Okay, normally they would be related," Yuzu sighed heavily. "But we had sex before we were in a relationship, and I didn't really know if I loved him or not when we had sex."

"But you do now."

"Obviously," Yuzu replied, laughing along with Hinata. "I'd feel weird bringing it up. We've been officially in a relationship since October 7th. Taro hasn't said it or anything."

Hinata raised an eyebrow. "This is the twenty-first century. The guy doesn't always have to say it first."

Yuzu sighed. "I know, but it's giving me anxiety just thinking about it. Karin and Toshiro have been telling each other that they love each other."

"Well if you know you love him, just say so. It doesn't matter if he says it back or not, because you're just expressing how you feel," Hinata said, then she scowled. "And you can't compare your relationship to your sisters. They've been dating longer."

"Technically they started saying they loved each other around the end of November, so it's roughly about the same timing for my relationship as it was in their relationship," Yuzu said, then she waved her hand. "But you're right. I shouldn't compare… I can't handle this."

Hinata grinned. "It probably doesn't help that you're hungover."

"No, it doesn't..." Yuzu trailed off, as they laid in better for a few more minutes in silence. "Let's go get breakfast somewhere, and hopefully that'll help this hangover go away."

"The greasier the better," Hinata agreed, however, neither of them moved, and they shared a look. "Maybe we can have it delivered here?"

"Great idea." Yuzu agreed, as she grabbed her phone.

 **A couple days later, Friday the 6th**

"Hell yeah!" Karin exclaimed as she and Natsuki high fived.

"Our first game and we win," Natsuki said, laughing along with Karin. "I think that's good luck for the rest of the year."

"I don't know how much luck has to do with it," Karin said, motioning down to her knee. "My knee is basically rubbed raw after how many times I hit grass today."

"Same. I might have to take two showers to get all this dirt off." Natsuki agreed, as they started up the stands.

"That was a great game you two." Isshin said, as the two girls approached.

"Thanks." Karin and Natsuki chorused, making the two girls share smirks, before Karin focused on Hana. "Thank you for coming. I appreciate it. I know it's cold out."

"Well, believe it or not, I used to be quite the soccer player back in the day," Hana said, motioning to the soccer field. "This used to be regular to me before I dropped my entire life to pursue becoming a doctor."

That made everyone laugh, and Karin just focused on Toshiro. "I thought you were supposed to be in a meeting."

"I managed to get out of it earlier than planned." Toshiro replied, reaching his hands out to hold hers. Trying to warm them up with his gloved hands.

"Did you leave your meeting early just to come to watch me play?" Karin asked, smirking when he shrugged.

"I'm not agreeing or denying anything." Was Toshiro's reply, as the others laughed.

Mina started to get a little fussy as she reached her hand out for Karin, but Ichigo tried to relax her. "No Mina, you don't want to see your aunt Karin right now, because she is all dirty."

"Thanks Ichigo." Karin shot back, kneeling down so she could make faces to make Mina laugh.

"Hey," Natsuki said, as she rested her hand on Karin's shoulder to let her know she was talking to her. "My parents are wondering where I am, so I'll talk to you later."

"Okay bye!" Karin called after Natsuki started going down the bleachers two steps at a time.

Orihime stood up along with the others. "We're going to go out to lunch."

"Yes, I'm starving," Karin said, her eyes going down to her phone to see a text from Yuzu. "Yuzu will be home later this evening… oh joy."

"Karin." Isshin said, an eyebrow raised.

Karin shrugged, as she finally stood all the way back up again. "I mean, oh joy I am so excited to have the possessed demon back in the house."

Toshiro smirked. "Zorro's already there."

While that made the others laugh, Karin stuck out her tongue. "You know what I mean. You never know with Yuzu. One minute she is normal, then the next minute she is acting like a horrible demon has possessed her body."

"Karin." Isshin said, this time trying to stop himself by laughing.

Reaching over to rest her hand on Isshin's shoulder, Hana smiled. "Let's just go get lunch."

 **The next afternoon**

Sensing a hollow nearby, Karin reached over to stop Kimi for a second. "Hey, go ahead and go without me. I have something I need to do."

"What?" Kimi asked, her eyes following Karin's gaze to the left.

"Something just came up. I'll see you later!" Karin replied, as she turned and started down the alleyway they were near to cut across the next block. She took a fence and started down the street until she finally came across the hollow. Bringing her power to her hands, Karin formed a katana and took off in the direction of the hollow. Using one of her new moves of bringing her power to her feet, she kicked off much higher off the ground and used the katana to take out the hollow. When it proved to not be enough, she jumped up again, and this time used her power filled fist to make contact with the hollow.

As the hollow disappeared, Karin landed on the ground and straightened up just as two more hollows appeared. "Shit!"

"Watch out!"

A familiar voice hit Karin's ears, as blonde hair buzzed past her face. Her eyes widened, as she realized it was Kimi who was currently taking down the hollow with a katana that would have gotten her. Shaking her head after a moment, she took care of the other one, and when both disappeared, she spun around to face Kimi. Who mirrored her with a power created katana. "What the hell?"

A smirk appeared on Kimi's face, as she let the power dissolve from her hand. "Don't look so surprised."

 **Urahara's**

"Okay, so it's been a slow period with updates on Aizen," Urahara said to the room full of shinigami, Akira and Rin. "So really we can just move on to updates on ongoing assignments and upcoming ones."

Isshin nodded once. "I guess that means I can get going-"

The door being loudly opened was heard, and in came an infuriated Karin.

"I noticed you took care of those hollows," Toshiro said, an eyebrow raised at Karin's expression. "Are you okay-"

"Would you relax Karin?" Kimi's voice interrupted Toshiro, as she entered more calmly after Karin. "It's really not that big of a deal."

"Don't talk to me!" Karin countered, irritably dropping her bag by some of the others.

Kimi crossed her arms and sighed. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you-"

Karin turned back to Kimi, and accidentally let her power go as she slung her hand back in Kimi's direction.

Kimi was quick to block Karin's power with her own, and now she grew an angry expression. "Did you seriously just do that? You could have took my head off?"

"What does it matter?!" Karin shouted back. "You can clearly defend yourself with the powers you never told me you had!"

"Wait what?" Toshiro asked, his eyes going from Karin to Kimi.

"Oh that's rich Karin," Kimi said, ignoring Toshiro. "You never told me you had powers, or that you knew about any of this."

Karin scowled as Kimi motioned to the others in the room. "But you knew that I had powers since we were back in our music program. I had no idea you had powers at all. It is different!"

"No it isn't!" Kimi exclaimed, as she threw her hands up. "You were obviously new at it, and I didn't know how much you knew."

"It's not like I couldn't have handled it-"

"Well then why in the damn hell did you not tell me about your powers then?" Kimi interrupted Karin, as she pointed at her. "Why would you expect me to tell you that I was a Somi when you didn't tell me that you were a Somi?!"

"Because I thought you were a normal human, and I don't just go around tell normal people about this stuff!" Karin shouted back at Kimi, as she irritably turned to walk to the back door that led to the stairs down to the training area.

"That's not an excuse!" Kimi exclaimed as she followed Karin.

"Girls!" Isshin called, as the two's arguing could be heard still.

"What just happened?" Ichigo asked.

Orihime's eyes were on Akira and Rin. "Did you two know?"

"No." Akira replied immediately, but Rin stood up and shook her head. "I knew this would happen eventually."

 **Downstairs**

Karin and Kimi finished with their power created katana's clashing against each other, and they finally dissolved their powers and stared at each other. Having spent the last fifteen minutes sparring each other, and now they just stared at each other for a long moment in silence.

"That was intense." Ichigo said, from where he and the others hand come down to watch the two spar each other.

Karin didn't acknowledge the others, as she kept Kimi's eyes. "When did you find out that you were a Somi?"

"I mean my mom was a Somi and my dad and brother are both shinigami's," Kimi started, as she released her tense posture. "It's not like I didn't already know about this stuff while growing up. I didn't get my powers until May of this year around my birthday. It was only a month before you got your powers."

"How did you find out about me during the program?"

Kimi shrugged and crossed her arms. "The first hollow that you took down. I was going after it myself, and I saw you take it down. Which told me that you at least were able to see spiritual beings, and then the second one I saw you really use the power and knew you were a Somi."

"I..." Karin trailed off, frowning as she hummed lowly.

Kimi motioned in the direction of the others, more specifically Toshiro. "It also didn't help that all of a sudden he showed up and started hanging around you. He was obviously a shinigami."

Toshiro smirked. "I don't think it was really that obvious-"

"Why do you think I started the whole "secret agent" thing?" Kimi interrupted him, a smirk on her own face. "Look your dating Karin, who has a lot of human friends, and you really have to come up with something better than a government job."

"I came up with that." Karin pointed out.

"I don't care. If you're going to regularly interact with humans, you need to come up with something more in depth as a cover," Kimi said, as she shrugged. "If you tell people secret agent, they are going to either think it's a joke and laugh it off, or that it's real and you can emphasize the secret part and that you can't disclose more information."

It was quiet for a moment, and Toshiro nodded slowly. "That's actually pretty useful."

"You're welcome-"

"I never saw your tattoo," Karin interrupted Kimi, circling back to the original topic. "We lived together for almost a month. We went to the beach together. I've never seen it."

"That's because I don't have mine yet," Kimi explained with a laugh. "I still have training to get through. Just like you."

Both Karin and Kimi looked in the direction of the others, and finally, Rin stepped forward. "Kimi's been working with Mizuki-"

"Really?" Akira interrupted, a smirk on her face. "That bitch never said anything to me. You'd think the nearly fifteen years of friendship that she'd tell me. We even started training together back when we were fourteen."

Rin cleared her throat to get the attention back to her. "I do want to point out that it's not really normal for Somi to train together this early in the process. That's really why I thought it'd be best if you two were not trained together."

"But Akira just said she got to train with her friend." Kimi pointed out.

"They both started solo training early, and were able to train together later on. You two just started, and you're not quite there yet-"

Rin clearing her throat interrupted Akira from continuing. "Really it's a matter of allowing the Somi to work on and identify their strengths, and discover their power on their own. It leads to better results in the second round of training."

"Second round?" Karin and Kimi chorused, confused looks on their faces.

Rin's focus went down to her phone when it buzzed. "Kei and Raya are waiting for me outside in the car, so we'll continue this discussion another day. Akira, if you and Mizuki would like to start holding Karin and Kimi's training sessions at the same time to allow them to spar each other, then you can. However, I don't want it getting out of control, and they need to be supervised."

"We'll see." Akira shrugged, as she looked at the other two.

After Rin left, Karin's eyes went back to Kimi, and finally she broke into laughter. Kimi joined in after a moment, and they laughed together. When Karin finally stopped laughing, she brought a hand over her chest. "Oh this is actually really great. My best friend is a Somi too. This lifts a weight off my shoulders because it's so difficult to make up why my entire family and boyfriend are gone all the time."

"To be fair, you have mostly been doing a great job in hiding it so far," Kimi replied, as she sighed. "I can finally tell my parents and brother that you finally know, and now it doesn't have to be this weird secret."

"They know about me?"

"Of course they do. I didn't even have to tell them. They noticed it the first time they met you, or they were suspicious at least. I told them to keep everything on the down low until we finally talked about it," Kimi explained, as they walked back over to the stairs. "Do you want to go get some food? I'm starving."

"Yes, I feel like I haven't had anything to eat in forever," Karin said, stopping to briefly kiss Toshiro on the cheek. "Hey, I'll text you later. Maybe we can get together and watch a movie tonight."

"Sure..." Toshiro trailed off, an eyebrow raised. "Just five minutes ago, you two looked like you were about ready to kill each other, and now you two are laughing and going to get dinner like nothing happened."

Karin and Kimi shared a look, then Karin smirked. "We're over it. It's actually pretty cool."

"Damn right it's cool," Kimi agreed, as she slung an arm around Karin's shoulders. "This is going to be so much fun."

"I know right?" Karin countered as they both moved to go upstairs.

The others remained quiet for a moment, and Isshin finally chuckled. "This world is much smaller than it seems."

* * *

 **A/N: This was a very "best friend" centered chapter. I loved writing the Yuzu scenes. We see a lot of Yuzu and her boyfriend Taro, but I thought it was nice to see her more interacting with her best friend, Hinata, a little bit. Also, Karin is found out that her best friend, Kimi, is a Somi too. Thanks for reading.**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**


	21. Getting A Tattoo

_Review:_

 _Karin and Kimi shared a look, then Karin smirked. "We're over it. It's actually pretty cool."_

" _Damn right it's cool," Kimi agreed, as she slung an arm around Karin's shoulders. "This is going to be so much fun."_

" _I know right?" Karin countered, as they both moved to go upstairs._

 _The others remained quiet for a moment, and Isshin finally chuckled. "This world is much smaller than it seems."_

* * *

 **A month and a half later, Friday, February 24th**

"Are you trying to kill me?!" Karin exclaimed, glaring at Kimi who was laughing.

Letting her katana dissolve, Kimi continued her laugh. "Wow, you're such a sore loser."

"I am not!" Karin exclaimed, as she gathered her power back to her hands.

"No, no, no," Akira said, before Karin could so much as take a step towards Kimi. "Did you not hear us? The spar is over."

"I knew this would happen if we let them spar each other," Mizuki said, as she walked over with Akira. A smirk on her face as she and Akira shared a look. "That's how we were."

"Damn right," Akira said, her eyes going back to Karin and Kimi. "Now that training is officially over for the day, there is something we need to talk to you two about."

"What now?" Karin asked, as she sighed heavily.

"Yeah, it seems like lately, all we are getting is lectures when we come to training." Kimi added, nodding in agreement with Karin.

"Maybe if you two did the things you were supposed to, then we wouldn't have to lecture you." Mizuki deadpanned.

Akira waved off the glaring looks being sent around. "Anyway, the thing we need to discuss is that you two are ready to get your Somi tattoos."

Kimi immediately clapped her hands together and laughed. "Yes finally! I've been waiting for this forever!"

Unlike Kimi, Karin was much calmer, as she crossed her arms. "Why now?"

"Akira and I believe that you two are ready," Mizuki explained. "Plus the last training sessions that Rin observed, she also agreed that you two were ready."

"You two are basically now skilled enough to be sent on assignment, and not end up dead," Akira said, then she waved a hand. "Well probably not end up dead. We're not making any promises."

Karin hummed and rolled her eyes. "That's encouraging."

Mizuki had turned to walk with Kimi over to her bag, and Akira remained with Karin. She could see the lack of excitement on Karin's face. "Come on Karin. You should be happy about this. This is a big step in your training. It brings a lot of new things."

"I am happy… I guess."

"You guess?" Akira countered, an eyebrow raised. "It's a pretty big deal you know? You've put in a lot of hard work, and it symbolizes that you are officially a Somi."

"I know that." Karin mumbled, as they joined Kimi and Mizuki again.

"Alright, the ceremony will happen on Sunday," Mizuki said, looking at the time on her phone. "I have to get back to campus, before traffic gets really bad."

"Same," Akira agreed, however, she was in less of a hurry to gather her bag. "We should go have dinner though first."

Mizuki shrugged. "As long as it's in a bar."

Karin raised an eyebrow at Akira nodding. "How are you two going to get back to campus if you two are going to be drinking?"

"We flip a coin and whoever loses has to stay sober enough to drive." Akira explained, sharing a smirk with Mizuki.

Kimi raised an eyebrow, finally focusing on them after having been texting. "Why not just take an uber back to campus?"

"That's a great idea," Mizuki said, as she and Akira moved to the stairs. "We'll leave my car outside Urahara's, and come back tomorrow."

It was quiet for a moment after Akira and Mizuki walked upstairs, and Karin and Kimi collected their stuff. Kimi quickly typing away on her phone. "I can't wait to get home and tell my parents. They are going to be so excited."

"Yeah…" Karin trailed off, focusing forward on the stairs. _Kimi's so excited to tell her family. I don't know how mine would react…_

 **At the Kurosaki House**

Walking inside, Karin kicked off her shoes. "Hey guys."

"Hey," Orihime said, as she had been helping Mina stand up on her feet. "Look Mina, it's aunt Karin."

Smiling at her niece, Karin moved over and knelt down in front of Mina, and tickled her sides to make her laugh. "Look at you. You're going to be standing up all by yourself in no time."

"You're cat looks jealous." Ichigo pointed out, at Zorro's tail slapping the ground harshly.

Karin reached over, and scooped Zorro up in her arms. "Don't be jealous."

"How was training?" Isshin asked.

"Interesting..." Karin trailed off, holding back on telling them about what happened. "I know we planned on having a lunch with you, Hana, Yuzu and I-"

"And Mina and Bingo," Orihime interrupted, as she smiled. "Ichigo and I are going on his birthday trip tomorrow morning, so you'll have two more members in the household."

"Yes, I'm sorry I forgot," Karin said, chuckling as she looked back at her dad. "As for the lunch, I can't do it anymore. I was thinking that I could make it up to you all, by making dinner tomorrow night instead."

Isshin raised an eyebrow at the lack of explanation. "Why can't you do lunch? I thought you were off of work."

"I thought so too," Karin replied, then she stood up after putting Zorro down. "So where's Yuzu?"

"She's at work," Ichigo replied, as he moved his feet away from Zorro, who looked like he was ready to attack them. "She won't be here until ten thirty."

"I was going to go pick her up actually," Orihime said, as she smiled at Karin. "You're welcome to come with me. You can even drive there, and get some experience night driving."

Karin hummed as she looked down at her phone where Kimi was texting her about them getting their Somi tattoos. "I would, but I have to get up early tomorrow. I still need to shower and do some homework. It's not due until Monday, but it seems like I'll be having a busy weekend."

"Okay then. Good luck with the homework." Orihime replied, then her focus went back to Mina.

Karin went upstairs to her room, and she went into the closet to grab some clothes. She stopped to stare at herself in the mirror. _I wonder what the Somi mark would like on me…_ Holding out her arms, she slowly turned around. When she was back to facing forward, she dropped her arms and sighed. _I'll figure it out I guess._

 **At the Purple Lotus Boutique**

Grabbing another blouse out of the box, Yuzu slipped it onto a hanger, put it on the table, then she began to repeat the process with another blouse. She was in the back of the boutique, folding and hanging up clothes that was to be set out on the racks in the front of the store. Her phone was hooked up to the speakers back there, and she was listening to music to try and pass the time.

The door to the front of the store opened again, and one of her coworkers, Lila, came in. She had pale pink hair, and bright blue eyes. "I finished hanging up those new sweater dresses. It took me so long because half of them fell off the hangers twenty times."

"That happened with me and those chunky sweaters." Yuzu said, laughing along with Lila. The store closed at nine, but they had been doing inventory the last hour and had another half hour before they would be able to go home.

Lila sat down on the stool on the other side of the table, and started putting more clothes on hangers from another box. "So, I know you've only been here a week, but this is the first time we've had a shift together. I feel like we haven't really got to know each other yet."

Yuzu quieted the music on her phone. "What do you want to know?"

"Why did you get a job?"

"I was running out of money, like most people who go and get a job."

Lila shrugged. "I don't know. Some people are very passionate about working."

"If I find someone that is passionate about folding and hanging clothes, I don't want to meet that person." Yuzu replied, laughing along with Lila.

"So you're not into retail that much?"

"I mean, it's alright," Yuzu said, grabbing the last few blouses out of the box to put on hangers. "I wasn't necessarily searching for this particular job. I was looking everywhere. This one was just nice, because my boyfriend works a couple stores down in the electronics store."

"Oh that's nice," Lila said, reaching over and pointing at the wallpaper on Yuzu's phone. "Is that him?"

Yuzu nodded, and smiled as it a photo of them covered in paint. "We're both artists, and that was after we did some painting together."

Lila raised an eyebrow suggestively. "It seems like you two were busy painting each other."

A smile grew on Yuzu's face. "I mean at least some of the paint got on the canvas… Honestly, back to why I got a job, I really just wanted to get out of the house, and this was the perfect excuse."

"I know right?" Lila agreed, as she smirked. "It's one of the very few reasons that my parents would let me stay out after my curfew."

They both finished up putting the clothes on hangers, and took them out to the front of the store. They were just finishing hanging them up when there was a knock on the front door.

"Oh look," Lila said, a smile on her face at Yuzu. "The boyfriend is here."

"Give me a second," Yuzu replied, as she moved over to unlock the front door to poke her head outside. They kissed and she smiled at him. "What's up?"

"How's work going?" Taro asked, smiling as well as he straightened her name tag on her shirt.

"It's work, I guess." Yuzu replied, as they both laughed.

"When do you get off?" Taro asked. "I can give you a ride home."

Yuzu smiled again. "Actually Orihime is already coming to pick me up when I get off, but thank you for the offer."

"You're welcome," Taro said, then he leaned over to kiss her a few times. "Alright, I'll let you get back to work, and I'll see you tomorrow."

"Be careful going home," Yuzu replied, kissing him one last time, before she turned to go back in the store. After she locked the front door back, she glanced to Lila to see her smirking. "What?"

"Damn, he's even cuter in person." Lila said, her smirk continuing as they walked back to the back room again.

"Let's just finish these last couple of boxes so we can leave." Yuzu replied, although she smiled at the thought of Taro.

 **The next afternoon**

"So you're enjoying volunteering at the animal shelter?" Toshiro asked, as he and Karin finished the movie they were watching.

"Yeah," Karin said, turning so she could face Toshiro, and she rested her elbow on the pillows behind them on the couch. "I'm glad I started doing it. After adopting Zorro from there, I kind of just felt like I wanted to be able to do more, and this definitely feels good."

"I have a feeling you'll end up bringing home another animal soon." Toshiro said, smirking as Karin shook her head.

"I won't… Probably," Karin said, laughing along with Toshiro. Glancing at the time on her phone, she sighed. "I actually have to get going back home. I told my dad that I would cook dinner tonight. You're welcome to come over and eat with us."

Toshiro sighed, and rested a hand on her leg. "I would love to, but I have a lot of paperwork to finish that I've already procrastinated enough… Maybe we can hang out tomorrow though."

"Uh," Karin started, then she hummed lowly. "I have a pretty busy day tomorrow."

Raising an eyebrow, Toshiro could tell she was holding back on something. "Karin-"

"Really it's just some school study group things. I just have something I'm doing tomorrow with Kimi," Karin interrupted, as she could tell he was a little suspicious. "However, if it's okay with you, I could come over tomorrow evening and maybe spend the night. We have a teacher workday on Monday, so I don't have school."

"Yeah, we can do that." Toshiro said, his eyes following her as she got up to gather her things. Still feeling like she wasn't fully telling him the truth.

 **At the Kurosaki House**

Setting her stuff down, Karin walked into the kitchen, and she had to avoid stepping on Bingo. She raised an eyebrow at Yuzu getting food out of the refrigerator and a pot of water on the stove. "I was going to make dinner tonight."

Yuzu glanced over and shrugged, as she continued grabbing ingredients out of the pantry. "Well, we can make it together. I'm in the mood to cook."

Karin chuckled. "That's surprising. You never want to cook anymore."

"Well I want to tonight," Yuzu replied, finishing up gathering ingredients before she looked over to her sister. "What's with that look on your face? You look like you're thinking about something."

Staying quiet for a moment, Karin sighed, and leaned against one of the counters. "I haven't told anyone yet, but I'm getting my Somi tattoo tomorrow."

Yuzu paused in washing off potatoes in the sink. "That's a tattoo? I just thought it was something that Somi people just get once they are like really a Somi."

"No, it's just a normal tattoo," Karin said, as she sighed. "It's supposed to be a big deal. Kimi flipped out when she found out we were going to get them, and she was practically running home to tell her parents about it."

"You haven't told anyone though?"

"No..."

"You know that they are going to see it eventually right?"

"I guess," Karin said, then she looked down where Zorro strolled into the kitchen. "I just don't think they'll care that much. They are all Shinigami, and this isn't something they really have to deal with."

It was quiet for a moment, then Yuzu motioned for Karin to come over. "Cut up these potatoes, and I'll get started on seasoning the water to make it into a nice broth."

"Okay." Karin said, moving over to the cutting board, as they heard the front door open and close.

"Hey, sorry I'm late-" Isshin broke off, when he stepped into the kitchen. An eyebrow raised in their direction. "You two are cooking dinner, together?"

"Yes." Karin and Yuzu chorused.

Isshin chuckled after that. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm just so surprised, because I didn't hear screaming when I was getting out of my car in the driveway."

"Dad." Karin said, shaking her head at his laughter.

"Hana's outside and getting Mina out of the car," Isshin explained, then he smirked at his two daughters. "Wait until Hana comes inside, and find you two cooking together."

"Why is it such a big deal?" Yuzu countered, meeting her dad's eyes. "Karin and I do stuff together all the time."

Isshin shook his head. "Not without usually screaming at each other so loudly that all of our neighbors can hear."

"I don't think so." Karin disagreed, as she and Yuzu nodded at each other.

"Right..." Isshin trailed off, trying to hide his chuckling, as he turned to leave the kitchen.

After their dad left, Karin shook her head and focused back on cutting up the potatoes. "I have no idea what he's talking about."

"Me either." Yuzu replied, pouring some chicken broth into the pot.

 **The next day, Sunday**

"This place is so cool." Karin said, her eyes sweeping around them, as she braced herself for the pain that would come from the tattoo she was about to get. They were at the Somi base in Karakura Town, and we're on the top floor. It had a huge wall of glass that overlooked most of the town and the northern forest in the distance.

"I know right-ow!" Kimi exclaimed, as she looked over her shoulder to the guy who was currently starting on her tattoo. "Can you give me a little bit of warning?"

"Kimi-" Karin broke off and took in a breath as the girl giving her tattoo to her started, and she released her breath. "It's not that bad. It doesn't feel that great, but again, not that bad."

Kimi laughed. "Okay, don't act all cool. This hurts and it's not shameful to admit it."

"I don't know," Mizuki's voice was heard from where she and Akira were watching from nearby. "It didn't hurt when we got ours."

"She's not telling you the full story," Rin said, as she entered the room, a smirk on her face. "I heard rumors from my predecessor that you two were about ten tequila shots in when you came in to get yours."

"Weren't you two fifteen when you got your tattoos?" Karin asked, an eyebrow raised at Akira and Mizuki laughing.

"Yeah, that was a fun day," Akira said, as she and Mizuki high-fived. "Our parents were pissed."

Kimi sighed and met Karin's eyes. "Apparently we missed the memo that the only way to enjoy getting a tattoo is to be wasted."

"We'll remember that for next time." Karin replied, as she and Kimi shared a smirk. Her focus went back to the giant window, and her eyes went to the northern forest in the distance. She imagined herself back in the mountains up North at Wayhurst, and seeing those wild horses in that clearing. _This memory of that trip is becoming my happy place. I would be perfectly happy living in the mountains or at least not in a city. And if I got to see things like that herd of wild horses every day, that would just be icing on the cake._

 **A couple hours later**

Looking over her shoulder to the mirror, Karin moved the strap of her tank top and bra down to look at the finished tattoo. Her skin was swollen, and still pink-ish. But it still amazed her to see the finished product on her, as they had been done for nearly forty-five minutes. It was a black circle, with a gold circle on the left and a white circle on the right. A small thin black line connected the white and gold circle, as if it was a ribbon going through them to keep them together.

"I know you don't know too much about our history," Rin's voice was heard, as she approached Karin. "The black circle resembles the earth, the gold circle resembles the sun, and the white circle resembles the moon. The sun and moon appear to circle the earth as we represent the sun and moon. Protecting the earth from what it can and cannot see. The black line is to represent the loop between the sun and the moon, and how it connects to the Earth."

"That's really cool," Karin said, looking at the tattoo for a moment longer, then she slid her tank top and bra straps back up, then put her sweater back on. "Why do we need the tattoo though?"

"It's just been a tradition that we've had for thousands of years."

"Thousands?"

Karin's wide eyes had Rin chuckling. "Yes, thousands. We have a lot of history. You should look into our library sometime."

"You have a library here too? What else is in this building?" Karin asked, an eyebrow raised.

Rin smiled. "A lot of things. Our library is the two floors above the ground floor, and there is tons of stuff there. However, it's not all. The main Somi building has more, and I'm sure there is plenty more around the world."

"That's pretty cool…" Karin trailed off, focusing back on the view out the big window as Rin walked over to talk to Kimi, Mizuki, and Akira. _So much has changed over the past nine months in my life since I learned that I was a Somi. I had no idea this was what I'd be doing with my life, but I'm happy._

 **Later that evening**

"Don't touch it that much. It is still tender." Karin said, taking in a breath she stared across Toshiro's bedroom.

"Okay, but the anti-bacterial cream needs to get on there somehow," Toshiro replied, as he more gently applied a little bit more, then he put the cap on the cream. It was quiet for a moment as he fanned the tattoo to try to get the cream to dry a little bit. "Why didn't you tell me you were doing this today?"

"I don't know really," Karin replied, finally adjusting her shirt back, before they got into his bed. Once settled, she sighed. "Everyone just doesn't get it."

"Get what?"

"Everyone around me is a Shinigami or a Quincy. Well, Orihime also has a different type of power, but she's also a Shinigami. Then, of course, Yuzu is a Somi like me, but she's pretending her powers don't exist. And-" Karin broke off, took in a deep breath, and sighed. "The point is that I'm not like anyone in my family. You would think that with my mom being a Quincy and my dad a Shinigami that I could just get just be like everyone else for once, but instead I am a Somi. No one else is. Not my dad, Ichigo, Orihime, Yuzu if we're following her pretending she doesn't have powers, then you… I'm different."

Toshiro remained quiet, as he watched her let her head fall back on the pillows to look up at the ceiling before she continued.

"Rin, Akira and Kimi are like me, and I don't feel different around them. I didn't want to feel different when I'm doing something that's supposed to be really important in my training," Karin said, then she scowled. "I get that you have a problem with me not telling you sooner, but I don't really appreciate you making me feel bad for thinking about myself when it's something that is about me and you can't relate to it. I already try to keep my issues with being a Somi out of everyone's business, because it's not like they can help me with it anyways."

This time when Karin stopped talking, Toshiro raised an eyebrow. "Are you finished?"

"I guess so."

"So what if your a Somi and I'm a Shinigami? So what if your family is full of Shinigami and Quincy's?" Toshiro countered immediately. "That doesn't mean that you are automatically an outsider, and you don't just get to make yourself into one."

"I'm not making myself into something that I just am-"

"Really? Because you chose to not include anyone in on what you did today. Yesterday, you had the opportunity to tell me what was going on, and you didn't," Toshiro interrupted, and he sighed. "Karin, it's okay that you're different. It's not okay to exclude yourself from your family, friends, and me because you feel like we wouldn't understand or have an interest in what's going on in your life as a Somi."

It was quiet for a moment after Toshiro stopped talking, and finally Karin nodded once. "Okay."

"Even though I am not a Somi, I still want to know what's going on with you. And if I don't know something, I will ask questions, and I'd hope that you would answer them. We don't know everything about each other Karin, and we do have very different lives. I am a Shinigami captain of the 10th division of the Soul Society, and have a lot of responsibilities. You, on the other hand, are a freshman in high school, you've recently discovered that you are a Somi, and you don't have nearly as much responsibilities to worry about. We are different," Toshiro said, reaching over to hold one of her hands. "Even so, I love you and you've said you love me too."

"I do love you." Karin said, her eyes meeting his finally.

"That means that despite our differences, we are still able to be together and love each other," Toshiro leaned over and kissed her. "I may not know much about Somi people, but I want to know more. If it's going to be a big part of your life, then it should be a part of my life too."

It was quiet before Karin finally smiled. "Okay. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I'm sorry I haven't been telling you things.

Toshiro raised an eyebrow. "Things?"

Karin nodded, and let her head rest back on her pillow again. "Yeah, I've also been having this dream for the past several months, and at first I thought it was just challenging me to work on my abilities more. But then back in August it started causing me to lose control over them, and once I got control again I thought it'd go away. But it hasn't, and now I've found the place I've been dreaming about, but I have no idea what in the world it can possibly mean. Because it's just a stupid library that is full of thousands of books, and I don't know what's so damn special about the place that I can't stop having this dream pop up for all these months."

After Karin finished talking, Toshiro was slightly taken aback at how much just spilled out of her mouth, but he finally nodded. "Okay, so we're just going to have to figure out what makes the library so special then."

Toshiro's calm response, brought a smile to Karin's face, as she leaned over to kiss him. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being so understanding, and for loving me even though I can sometimes make that difficult."

"There's nothing you can do that would make me stop loving you," Toshiro said, kissing her again, and when their kiss broke he smiled. "Now let's get some sleep."

 **The next morning**

Waking up, Yuzu had to blink several times to get her eyes to focus, and she felt an instance ache in her head when she moved it. _That party last night was wild._ She and Taro had gone to a party last minute after getting off work, since they had today, Monday, off of school and didn't have to wake up early. They had both been drinking pretty heavily, and there were certain things she didn't remember from last night. However, there were was one thing she did. There was a lot of tension starting to build between her and Taro, as a particularly intense make-out session in his car got heated really quickly. _It's been a long time, but I think I might be re-considering having sex with Taro again._

A knock on the door was heard. "Yuzu?"

Hearing Karin's voice, Yuzu sighed in relief that it wasn't her dad. "What?"

"I'm coming in," Karin's voice was heard, before the door opened and she walked in the room. She closed the door behind herself, and walked over and held out a glass of water and some Tylenol. Holding a baby monitor in hand to listen out for Mina. "Here."

"Oh my god, thank you," Yuzu said, taking the Tylenol and taking a couple of big gulps of water. Setting the glass on her bedside table, she was quick to lay her head back on her pillows. "How did you know?"

"That you were hungover?" Karin asked, a big smirk on her face. "How do you think you got in the house without waking dad up last night? You were so loud outside. You are lucky that my room is closest to the front of the house, and dad's is so far away. You would have woke him up and would have probably been grounded for a month. You also couldn't walk straight, and I had to walk you upstairs and put you in your bed."

"Thanks." Yuzu mumbled, rubbing her temples, and trying not to move her head anymore.

Karin sighed and smiled at Yuzu. "Well, you might want to stay in your room for the next half hour. Dad's not leaving for work until then. I've just got the baby monitor for Mina, because dad's taking a shower."

Yuzu hummed lowly in response, however, when she noticed Karin turn to leave, she pushed herself up a little bit. "Wait."

Pausing at the door, Karin looked over her shoulder. "Yes?"

"Uh," Yuzu started, laying her head back down, as she stared up at the ceiling. "How is your relationship with Toshiro going?"

It was quiet at first, as Karin raised an eyebrow. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah… I know we don't usually talk about this stuff-"

"No," Karin interrupted, as she turned and walked a few steps closer to stand by the end of Yuzu's bed. "It's going great actually. I couldn't ask for anyone better."

"Have you two-" Yuzu broke off as throb from her headache. "You know..."

It took a moment, but Karin finally realized what Yuzu was getting at. A smirk appeared on her face, as she crossed her arms. "Are we really going to talk about this? I just figured after how much arguing we've done at each other over the past several months, a lot of the times about our relationships, that would be the last thing you would want to talk about with me."

Yuzu chuckled. "I admit that I've been bitter. It's kind of frustrating when my relationship has so many rules and regulations, like my curfew being earlier than Taro's or the fact that his parents aren't cool with the idea of us sleeping over at each others houses. Meanwhile, you literally get to do everything with your boyfriend. Dad doesn't care that you sleep over at his apartment, and he's even invited him to sleep over here before. Toshiro doesn't even have a curfew-"

"Are you kidding?" Karin interrupted. "You have no idea how lame I feel sometimes. Toshiro has his own apartment, and he has no curfew. I feel so embarrassed sometimes that I have a curfew. Yes, Toshiro's got more freedom, and it makes it seem like I do too. But I still have restrictions too."

"I guess I've never thought about it like that… Anyway, the point is that yes, I have been bitter, but you're still my sister. Who else am I going to talk to about this kind of stuff?" Yuzu asked, then she laughed. "Okay, so I could talk to Hinata about this stuff, but you know what I mean."

Karin sat down on the end of the bed, and she sighed. "No, Toshiro and I have not taken that next step."

That had Yuzu raising an eyebrow. "Really? I figured you two would have already. I mean with how overly happy you two are."

"What does us being happy have to do with if we're having sex or not?" Karin asked after she laughed.

"Well, I mean you've been dating for what? Almost eight months. You're still just so incredibly happy with each other."

Karin smiled at the thought. "We're just happy to be together Yuzu. You know, I was the one who told Toshiro as soon as we started dating that I wasn't ready to have sex, and has respected that. There have been a couple times where I was worried about him only saying he's okay with it, because I told him I wasn't ready. But we've talked about it, and he's reassured me that he's happy to wait until I'm ready. No matter how long that takes."

Yuzu was quiet for a moment. "And you two haven't wanted to change your minds on that?"

The sound of a nose sniffing at the bedroom door caught their attention. Karin got up and opened the door, and Bingo came running in. He jumped up on the bed, and plopped down next to Yuzu. Zorro, more calmly strolled in, and proceeded to jump on the desk and knock half the stuff over as he laid down. "Alright then."

"Don't worry about it. I'll clean it up later." Yuzu said, moving her hands to pet Bingo, who was busy rubbing his face into her comforter.

Shutting Yuzu's bedroom door again, Karin returned to sit on the bed. "Back to your question… I can't speak for Toshiro, but I've certainly thought about it. There just hasn't been a moment where I could tell myself that I was a hundred percent ready, even though there have been times where I've felt pretty damn close."

"I've been like that with Taro lately… I haven't felt fully ready to have sex with him again, but it's like lately I've come a lot closer to wanting to," Yuzu said, as she sighed. "Last night was one of those times. Of course, it didn't help that I was drinking, but I've had nights much worse than last night when I knew that I didn't want to."

"Have you talked to Taro about it?"

"No, I don't want to get his hopes up," Yuzu said, laughing at that. "I know that's stupid, but honestly, I think it's been on both of our minds lately. Although, he's really adamant on trying to not let us get to that point of taking that next step after my whole freak out after the first time, where I disappeared and didn't talk to him over the Summer."

"How do you know if you are really ready?" Karin asked curiously.

"I was actually just about to ask you that," Yuzu said, a smile on her face. "Honestly, the first time I felt like I was ready and it was amazing. It felt right in the moment. But that next morning, I woke up and I felt like I rushed into the decision. Lately, I feel like those times where I almost change my mind on waiting or not, those moments are usually rushed into. It shouldn't be that difficult for you and Toshiro, because you two know that you love each other."

Karin raised an eyebrow. "Yes, we know we love each other… But don't you and Taro love each other?"

Yuzu shrugged. "I guess. We've haven't actually told each other yet, but I know I love him. I mean last night we felt so close to wanting to have sex again that I actually thought about going to the doctor to get on birth control."

"Did you talk to dad about doing that?"

"No," Yuzu said, as she waved off Karin's look. "I know you and dad have your whole honesty thing, but I personally don't feel like it's any of his business if I'm having sex or not. As long as I'm doing it responsibly that's all that matters."

Karin hummed lowly, but she nodded. "I mean I guess if that's how you feel, then you do your thing."

"Besides, I don't really know anything for sure yet," Yuzu continued on. "But I can say that I think I might go get on birth control anyways. With how things have been going, I'd like to be prepared ahead of time if I decide I'm ready to have sex again."

"I can go with you if you want. I may not be ready to take that next step yet, but it might do me some good to go and at least educate myself on birth control options-" Karin broke off as there were little coo sounds coming from the baby monitor. "Looks like Mina's awake."

Yuzu sat up, as Karin got off the bed. "Yeah you could come with me if you wanted to, and you never know. You might change your mind sooner than you think. I see how you and Toshiro look at each other. You two are so in love, and I have no idea how you two aren't already having sex."

"Yuzu," Karin said, laughing along with her sister. "I'm going to get Mina, then make breakfast. You should probably eat something to help with your hangover."

"Yeah… Just go out first and make sure dad is gone before I leave my room," Yuzu said, as she motioned to herself. "I definitely look hungover."

Karin chuckled. "Yuzu, I could smell vodka on you from the doorway of your room. You need to take a shower."

Yuzu laughed at that, as Karin left the room. Zorro jumped off the desk to follow her, and Bingo follow quickly to chase Zorro down the hall. Smiling after a moment, Yuzu pushed herself to get out of bed. _I guess I'll be taking a shower then._

* * *

 **A/N: Yuzu's got a new job. Karin got her Somi tattoo. Yuzu and Karin getting along? A lot of things happened in this chapter, and I enjoyed writing all of it. What's your favorite scene from the chapter?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**


	22. Yuzu's Boyfriend's Mistake

_Review:_

" _Yeah… Just go out first and make sure dad is gone before I leave my room," Yuzu said, as she motioned to herself. "I definitely look hungover."_

 _Karin chuckled. "Yuzu, I could smell vodka on you from the doorway of your room. You need to take a shower."_

 _Yuzu laughed at that, as Karin left the room. Zorro jumped off the desk to follow her, and Bingo follow quickly to chase Zorro down the hall. Smiling after a moment, Yuzu pushed herself to get out of bed. I guess I'll be taking a shower then._

* * *

 **Almost a week later, March 5th**

"Wait she did what now?" Isshin asked, an eyebrow raised in Rin's direction.

"Uh," Rin started, rubbing the back of her neck, as her eyes went from Isshin to Ichigo, who both were looking at her with raised eyebrows. "I thought she would have already told you. Before it happened actually."

The front door opened, and Karin and Toshiro walked in. Karin laughing, but when her eyes saw her dad's, she stopped. "Uh, what's up?"

"I don't know, you tell me," Isshin replied, an eyebrow raised. "Particularly about what you did last weekend."

The smile dropped right off Karin's face, as she shared a look with Toshiro. Rin quickly waved to get Karin's attention. "I didn't know that they didn't know."

"It's okay, I should have told them," Karin said, as she looked back at her dad and brother. "Akira told me that I was ready to get my Somi tattoo last week, and I didn't tell you guys about it. I also realize I should have told you because I was getting a tattoo that will be on my skin the rest of my life, but to be fair it's a Somi tradition. I also would like to argue that it's my body and I should be able to do what I want to it, but I realize that you are my dad and still have a say over me until I turn eighteen. Honestly, I felt like you guys just wouldn't get it, because it's not really shinigami related. So that's why I didn't tell you."

Isshin was quiet for a long moment. "I understand that we are different in that sense, but in what world do you think it's okay to not tell us things because of that?"

Karin waved her hand. "I know it's not okay. Toshiro basically told me that last weekend, and that I was being stupid."

Toshiro had to hold back a laugh. "That's not exactly how I put it."

"It's just kind of hard when I come from a family of shinigami and I guess quincy, Ichigo," Karin said, as she finally sighed. "Anyway, so now that I've got my Somi tattoo, I can officially take on assignments now."

"Not all the time," Rin added, as she waved a hand. "Only on occasion."

"That's great and all," Isshin said, raising an eyebrow. "But you can't neglect your life here. You have school, work, and the soccer season is picking up."

Karin waved it off. "I'll be fine. I think the occasional assignments will be good for me."

Isshin stared at her for a long moment, then he smirked. "I have a feeling that the occasional thing is going to be very short lived."

"Who knows? I could try this out, then realize that I don't really like it that much." Karin pointed out.

Toshiro, who had sat down on the couch, smirked at her. "Why have you been training all this time then?"

"To explore the idea of becoming a Somi. It's very possible that I could do this and realize I don't want to work with other people. Like you, for example, have to put up with a bunch of idiots in your division, and I don't think I can handle that as well as you can," Karin said, her eyes going to Ichigo. "No offense."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes in her direction. "Why the hell are you looking at me?"

"Okay," Isshin cut in before the two could start arguing, as his eyes focused on Karin. "Just over the Summer, you were talking about potentially going to college. Now you're wanting to explore becoming a full time Somi?"

"Part time Somi," Karin corrected, then she shrugged. "I don't really know for sure if I want to go to college or become a Somi. Maybe I won't want to do either, and do something else entirely. But I figure that if I take the steps now to become a Somi or study so my grades are high enough so I can get into a good college, when it comes down to deciding what I want to do in life, I will have options."

Ichigo smirked. "When did you become a do-er? This time last year, you were only really into soccer with a mild interest in music. You didn't want to go to college or do anything else really. Honestly, I think we all basically expected you to coast through high school."

"Well people change," Karin said, smirking back at him. "For example, I was extremely melodramatic in middle school, and now that seems to have transferred over to Yuzu."

"I thought you and your sister were getting along again." Toshiro said, a little confused.

"We are."

Toshiro blinked slowly, then shook his head. "Okay, I'm not going to say anything else, because I clearly don't understand the dynamic between you and your sister ever."

Karin stared at Toshiro quietly for a moment. "I don't even know what that means."

That made Toshiro laugh. "Two weeks ago, I asked you to ask if your sister wanted to pick her up for dinner, and you looked at me like I asked you to kill your cat. Then last week you two were practically best friends. Now I have no idea. It's confusing."

"That's the truth." Ichigo agreed, actually high-fiving Toshiro here.

Sighing at that, Karin's eyes went to Ichigo. "How's Orihime doing?"

"Not to good," Ichigo replied, at the reminder, he cleared his throat and stood up. "I actually should probably head home."

"Let us know if we can do anything." Isshin said, watching his son go down the hall to go get Mina from one of the guest rooms she was currently taking a nap in.

"I actually should probably get going too," Rin said, as she stood up. "Kei and Raya had a whole day planned to spend the day together, and they are in charge of dinner tonight. So I have no idea what I'll be walking home to."

"Good luck," Karin said, smiling as Rin left, then her eyes went to Ichigo who came back with a very sleepy Mina in his arms. "Bye Ichigo."

"Bye." Ichigo said, as he walked out with Mina.

Karin sighed heavily, as she leaned back on the couch cushions. "This sucks. This is what it felt like last year in the last few months of Orihime's pregnancy. Always stressed and feeling like doom is around the corner, because of Aizen."

"Doom is not around the corner." Toshiro said, resting his hand on hers.

"You don't know that." Karin replied back grumpily.

"Okay," Isshin said, as he stood up from the couch. "I'm going to pick up food from Rocky's for dinner, before I go and pick Hana up from the hospital once her shift ends. What do you two want?"

 **Two hours later**

Having finished up dinner, Karin and Toshiro were in the kitchen, and getting ice cream and pie for dessert. As they were working on getting dessert for themselves and Isshin and Hana, Karin was not really too focused on what they were doing. "Is it really a big deal if I start doing Somi assignments?"

Toshiro paused in putting ice cream in the bowls, as he raised an eyebrow. "Why did that all of a sudden pop back into your mind after two hours?"

Karin sighed, as she put another pie slice in one of the bowls. "Ichigo started doing work as a shinigami when he was fifteen, and my dad didn't have any objections then."

"Didn't we already settle this earlier? Your dad seemed okay with the idea-"

"And so what if I decide I don't want to be a Somi and just go to college? Or maybe I'll want to do both, or neither," Karin interrupted him, cutting another slice of pie. "That's my decision."

Toshiro watched her harshly cut the slice of pie. "Karin?"

"That's another choice that dad was okay with Ichigo making, but when it's me, he has "concerns" or whatever. That's kind of backwards and doesn't make sense to me."

"Karin," Toshiro said, reaching over to rest a hand on her arm. "Are you talking to me? Because it doesn't seem like it."

"What?" Karin asked, her eyes meeting his. After a moment of silence, she sighed. "Do you think Orihime's going to be okay?"

Realizing what was really on her mind, Toshiro reached up, and pushed her hair back from her face. "Orihime's strong. She'll get through this just fine."

"I hope so… The last time all this stuff happened with Aizen… It wasn't good. Now it's happening again."

"It's not the same situation as last year," Toshiro reassured, wrapping an arm around her, then he kissed the top of her head. "You don't need to worry."

"Okay." Karin nodded, as they went back to finishing up with the dessert bowls to bring them in the living room.

 **Purple Lotus Boutique**

"Goodnight everyone!" Yuzu called to her manager and coworkers, before she walked out of the boutique. She smiled at Taro, who was waiting for her. "It's freezing out here."

"Here," Taro said, handing over a hot chocolate for her. "I got it before they closed for the night, so it should be a good temperature for you to drink."

"Oh, so it's not going to burn my tongue off?"

"Exactly," Taro replied, grinning at her. "How was work?"

Yuzu shrugged. "It wasn't bad. It was slow the last couple of hours, and I ended up restocking things. You?"

"We had a slow day today. We got to work on some of the electronics that were broken." Taro replied, then he chuckled.

"What?"

"We just did that thing."

"What thing?"

"That whole starting our conversation by asking each other how work was thing," Taro chuckled again. "The whole married adult thing."

Yuzu laughed, as she slipped her arm through his. "Technically we started the conversation talking about hot chocolate so we're not there yet."

"True," Taro said, as they got to his car and stopped by the passenger side. "I'm really starting to enjoy these moments. Us getting off work at the same time, and our walk to my car together. These little moments are nice. I love them."

Yuzu smiled as their eyes met. "I do to… I love you."

Taro's grin returned to his face, as he leaned his head down to kiss her. "I love you too."

They kissed again, and when they broke apart, he opened the car door for her. Yuzu got in the car, and watched as he walked around and got in on the driver's side to turn the car on. As the car was heating up, she glanced at him again, and took a deep breath. "I decided to start taking birth control."

At that moment, Taro had taken a sip of his hot chocolate, and nearly choked on after she said that. His eyes met hers, clearly taken off guard.

Yuzu grabbed a napkin from the center console and wiped some of the hot chocolate off his face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Taro trailed off, as he took a breath. "Are you sure?"

"I didn't want to get your hopes up unless I was certain, but I think I'm ready to have sex again. With you."

Taro finally grinned. "I'd hope it would be with me."

Yuzu smiled. "Taro."

Reaching over, Taro took her free hand. "All jokes aside, I'm happy that you feel that way. Even so, if you have any second thoughts, I'd rather you be honest and tell me though. I don't want to have sex again unless you know that you are a hundred percent ready to."

"That's what I want too."

Taro leaned over and kissed her. "We should probably get you home."

 **A couple days later, Tuesday**

"How was soccer practice?" Toshiro asked as Karin got in the car.

"It went pretty good," Karin replied, as she set her soccer bag on the floorboard and put her seatbelt on. "We've had a great season. We've won every game, except one, but we're ranked first in our division. Our coach is still just as hard on us as ever though."

Toshiro noticed her rubbing her shoulder, and raised an eyebrow. "Should I be taking you to train right now if you're injured?"

"I'm not injured," Karin replied, noticing Toshiro was looking at her shoulder. "It's not that bad. I can just ice it later."

"You have a game on Saturday, right?"

"Soccer requires my feet, not really that much of my upper body," Karin sighed as she continued to rub her shoulder. "I'll be fine by Saturday-"

"You have practice on Thursday and Friday, you're going to be at work the rest of the day after school tomorrow," Toshiro interrupted, starting the car forward. "If you train tonight, on top of the practice you just had, then continue to push yourself every day for the rest of the week, you are going to be hurting at your game on Saturday."

"I don't think so."

"Karin."

"Toshiro," Karin shot back, then she sighed after a moment. "Fine. I didn't really feel like training anyways."

Toshiro smirked at her. "You are such a liar."

"I know." Karin said, laughing along with him.

 **A few days later, Saturday, March 11th**

"Hey." Yuzu greeted, as Taro opened the front door of his house. They kissed, and she stepped inside. "What's up? You called and texted me like 700 times this morning."

Taro laughed oddly, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Something came up with my parents.""

Raising an eyebrow at his lack of explanation, and his oddly whispered tone. "What?"

"They found out that we had sex last Summer."

"How do they not already know about that?"

"Well..." Taro trailed off, taking her hand and leading her to the living room.

Yuzu's eyes widened a little when she saw Taro's parents both sitting on the couch, and looking in their direction. As she and Taro sat on the other couch, she looked at him. "What's going on here?"

Taro rubbed the back of his neck again. "Well, I was hoping that maybe we could talk to them about what happened this Summer."

When Taro didn't say anything more, Yuzu narrowed her eyes. "I'm sorry. Did you ask me over here to talk to your parents for you?"

"Well-"

"You've got to be kidding me," Yuzu interrupted, as she sighed and looked to his parents. "Yes, we had sex last Summer. It was one time, and we haven't done it again. However, we both have been talking, and have been considering doing it again. We just would prefer to be more prepared this time if we do decide to have sex again."

"Yuzu." Taro mumbled at her forwardness.

Standing back up from the couch, Yuzu turned to face Taro. "This is really a conversation that you needed to have with your parents by yourself, and you shouldn't have asked me to come over here to do it for you. Maybe we shouldn't be considering having sex again if you can't even handle talking to your parents about it." With that said, she turned and walked out of his house without looking back. Starting down the sidewalk, she felt her heart beating fast, and anger boiling. She dialed Hinata's number on her phone, and held it up to her ear.

 _Hinata: Hello._

 _Yuzu: Hey, I hope you're not busy, because I need to talk to you._

 _Hinata: I'm not busy. Just laying in bed, and trying to enjoy my morning of silence without my family in the house._

 _Yuzu: Perfect. I'll be there in ten minutes. I can't stay long, because Karin's soccer game starts at noon, but I need to talk to you about what Taro just did._

 _Hinata: Ooo, I'll see you then._

Getting off the phone, Yuzu sighed heavily,

 **At the high school's soccer field**

Cheers went up from the stands, and Karin high-fived one of her teammates. Her goal put them ahead of the other team, and that was just what they needed before their break. The team went to their coach, and her focus went up to the stands where her family was sitting. More specifically to Yuzu, who looked rather stiff and unhappy. _She looks pissed-_

"Kurosaki!" The coach exclaimed to get her attention. "That was a good play, but you just barely got that goal."

"I know. I'll do better." Karin replied, nodding as the coach told them to take the next fifteen-minute break.

Natsuki handed Karin her water when she walked over to the bench. "What's up with that? You got the goal. Why does it matter if it was just barely or not?"

Karin shrugged after taking a long drink of water. "She just wants us to keep improving. I don't mind it. I'm not looking for someone to hand me compliments all the time, and never really push me to do improve."

Natsuki laughed at that. "You're strange, but I love you for it."

Karin grinned. "I'll be back."

"I'll be here." Natsuki replied, going to sit on the bench with one of their teammates.

Going up the steps, Karin focused back on her family. Her dad, Yuzu and Hana were there. Along with Toshiro, then Mai, Hikari, and Emi as well.

"Oh, I didn't know you guys were coming." Karin said to Mai and Hikari, as she smiled down at Emi.

"Well we had the afternoon free," Mai said, as she fixed Emi's little hat. "And Emi needed to get out of the house."

Emi pointed to Karin. "Your dirty."

Karin laughed. "Yes I am dirty. The field is still a little wet from the rain from yesterday morning."

Isshin eyed the mud on her, and whistled lowly. "I can't wait for that mud to be all in my car."

His sarcastic words had Hana laughing, as she patted his hand. "We can drop your car off to get it cleaned after this, and drive my car to the movies."

"Oh yeah, I forgot you two were going on a date," Karin said, as she smiled big. "Oh that's so cute."

"Karin." Isshin smirked, as Hana laughed.

Toshiro cleared his throat to get Karin's attention. "Speaking of going on a date, are you still going to be free later this evening? You've been busy almost every night this week."

"Yes, I have no plans, so I am all yours," Karin replied, then her eyes moved to Yuzu. "Are you okay? You look pissed. I saw that from down at the field."

Yuzu scowled, stood up, and walked away.

"I'll talk to you guys later," Karin said quickly to the others, then she followed her sister to the other side of the bleachers, where there wasn't anyone sitting. As she and her sister stopped, she sighed at Yuzu's lack of talking. "I don't have that much more time on the break Yuzu."

"My boyfriend did something completely stupid today, and it pissed me off, okay?"

"What did he do?"

"His parents found out we had sex last Summer, and instead of talking to them on his own, he called me over to do it for him," Yuzu said, her expression growing with anger. "He basically put me on the spot in front of his parents, and I'm just like are you actually kidding me? Can he not talk for himself? It is not my job to talk to his parents for him!"

After Yuzu's irritated exclamation, Karin blinked slowly. "Wow, you are really pissed."

Yuzu sighed heavily, as she sat on the bleachers near them. "I'm annoyed."

Remaining standing by her sister, Karin sipped her water. "What did you do?"

"I told his parents that yes, we had sex the one time, and we didn't do it again. I also told his parents that we were thinking about doing it again, but this time we wanted to be more prepared," Yuzu replied, then she scowled. "Then I told him that he was the one who should have said all that stuff to his parents, and he shouldn't have called me over to do it for him. Then I proceeded to tell him that maybe we weren't ready to do anything more after all, then I left."

It was quiet as Karin raised an eyebrow. "You said that to his parents?"

"Yes. Why are you surprised? You tell dad how it is all the time."

"Yeah, but that's because he's our dad and I feel like I can be honest with him. If Toshiro's parents were in the picture, I don't think I can say that kind of stuff to them, let alone the sex stuff."

Yuzu shrugged. "I'm not even mortified or anything that I said that stuff to them. I'm just more pissed at Taro than anything."

"Well, I would be too if I was in your position," Karin agreed, as she scoffed. "You are not your boyfriend's babysitter. You don't have to hold his hand and do all the hard stuff for him-" She stopped and laughed a little. "That sounded a little bit sexual."

"Karin." Yuzu cracked a smile.

Karin laughed it off. "You should be pissed at him all you want. You have a right to be. He'll come to apologize sooner than later, then you guys can go back to giving each other sexy eyes whenever you see each other."

Yuzu laughed finally. "I can't believe you just said that."

"Well the other day, you were the one who was talking about basically wanting to jump his bones-"

"Kurosaki!" The sound of Karin's soccer coach yelling her name interrupted Karin, followed by a whistle.

Karin grinned, and motioned to herself. "That's me."

Yuzu laughed, and nudged Karin away from her. "Go. Get away from me with all your dirty thoughts."

Karin grinned, then started down the bleacher steps two at a time.

Yuzu watched her sister go until she was back at the field, then walked back over to where the family was. She sat down, and put her hands in her pockets to try to warm them up a little.

"Are you okay?" Isshin asked, his eyes on his daughter.

"I'm fine dad." Yuzu scowled, as she looked away back to the soccer field.

Hana raised an eyebrow, but Isshin just waved off her look. "Oh, it's fine. They usually don't tell me things," he said, making Hana laugh, and he just smirked as he looked over to Mai and Hikari. "Raising girls is a lot different than boys. Ichigo was an open book for the most part, and Yuzu and Karin are basically locked with a key that doesn't actually exist."

"Oh can't wait for that." Hikari said, as he held up Emi a little, who just giggled.

"Karin's improving on that," Toshiro offered, then he shrugged. "I can't speak for Yuzu."

"Hey, I'm right here." Yuzu shot back.

"I know, that's why I said that I can't speak for you." Toshiro replied, a smirk on his face.

Yuzu laughed shortly, shook her head, and focused back on the field as the game was starting up again.

 **Later that evening**

Eating another scoop of ice cream, Yuzu felt eyes on her, and glanced over to see both her dad and Hana looking at her. "Can I help you?"

Coughing a little, Isshin paused the movie they were watching. "Well, it's just unusual for you to be home at this time, especially on a weekend night."

"It's not unusual that I'm in my own home," Yuzu countered, but she sighed as she glanced down at her pajama pants and ice cream bowl. "I didn't feel like going anywhere."

"Well, what is Taro up-"

"Dad." Yuzu interrupted, sending a glare his way, before she focused back on her ice cream bowl.

Isshin opened his mouth, but Hana was quick to reach over and rest a hand on one of his. She shook her head at him, then she focused on Yuzu. "Well, I think it's nice that you're here. Usually, when we watch movies this late in the day, your father falls asleep halfway through, and I need someone to watch it with."

While that brought a smile to Yuzu's face, Isshin just smirked. "I don't always fall asleep."

"Just most of the time," Karin's voice was heard, as she came down the stairs. Dressed in sweatpants and her leggings, her hair pulled up, and most of her makeup on. She set Zorro on the couch. "I'm leaving him down here, because he keeps knocking all my stuff off my vanity, and it's driving me crazy."

Hana distracted Zorro with one of his toys. "We'll keep him entertained for you."

A knock on the door was heard, and Karin went over to open it to find Taro on the other side. "Can I help you?"

Taro sighed, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Can I speak to Yuzu?"

"We'll see," Karin replied, promptly shutting the door in his face, before she looked over to Yuzu. "Are we talking to him or not?"

Yuzu sighed heavily, then took her last bite of ice cream. She set the bowl on the coffee table, and got up to go outside on the porch. Once out there, she slipped her jacket on, as the chilly March wind hit her. Her eyes focused on Taro, as she remained silent and crossed her arms.

"Okay, first of all, I clearly made a mistake today, and I want to apologize for putting you in the position that I did," Taro said, leaned against the railing on the porch. "I obviously didn't think it through and did something stupid. It's not your job to talk to my parents for me, and it was wrong of me to think that it was a good idea. You have every right to be mad at me, and I just want you to know how sorry I am."

Softening her stance a little, Yuzu sighed. "I accept your apology. But, just so we a really clear on this, don't do that again. I'm not about to act like your mother and treat you like a kid who can't speak for himself. That's not going to happen."

Taro nodded quickly. "I completely agree, and again, I'm sorry that I did that. I can speak for myself, and shouldn't try to get you to do it for me."

Yuzu watched Taro's eyes for a moment. "What did your parents say after I left?"

"They were actually saying similar things to you. That I shouldn't have had you come over to have that conversation with them," Taro said, then he sighed and rubbed his temple. "They were pretty easy on me, but I'll still be grounded for a couple of weeks. At least they aren't doing anything drastic, like trying to get you and I to stop seeing each other or anything. On another note, it was awkward and all, but they did say that if we were going to have that _type_ of relationship that I should be using condoms and you on the pill. I already told them that was the plan, but they aren't trying to forbid us from having sex."

"Okay." Yuzu nodded slowly.

"Not that I'm saying all this to try to get you to have sex with me or anything," Taro said, as he quickly waved his hand. "I just wanted to let you know that they were okay with it. Well not okay necessarily, just not trying to stop us from doing it. We can still wait as long as you want to before we have sex again-"

Yuzu reached over and rested her hand on his arm to get him to stop talking. "Taro, it's okay. I know."

Finally seeing Yuzu smiling at him, brought Taro's lopsided grin to his face. "So, I know it's later in the day and everything, but do you want to go out and do something?"

"I don't think so," Yuzu replied, motioning to her pajamas. "I'm already in my pajamas and I kind of just want to relax at home with my family. Well, the part of the family that will be here, which is my dad and his girlfriend."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow to give you a ride to work?" Taro asked, smiling when she nodded, and he leaned over and kissed her.

When their kiss broke, Yuzu smiled as his arms wrapped around. "Maybe if you want to sit on the porch with me for a few more minutes that would be okay."

"I can do that." Taro agreed, leaning his head back down to kiss her.

 **Fifteen minutes later**

Karin walked back downstairs after having changed into a nicer black blouse, and she had pulled her hair down and finished her makeup.

"What are Yuzu and Taro talking about?" Isshin asked after Karin sat down.

"I'm not outside with them, how would I know?" Karin countered with a shrug.

Isshin smirked in Hana's direction. "See, this is what I'm talking about. They tell each other stuff, but don't tell me anything."

"Dad," Karin said, getting his attention again. "If it makes you feel any better, we don't tell Ichigo things either."

"It doesn't, but okay." Isshin replied, as they all laughed.

Hana leaned over to Karin's direction. "Is about what you two were talking about at the soccer game?"

Karin nodded. "Yes."

It was quiet as Isshin looked between Hana and Karin, and he smirked. "I probably wouldn't have gotten a "yes" if I asked."

"Dad, I tell you things all the time," Karin replied, then she waved a hand. "If it's about Yuzu, it's not really my place to talk about it."

The door opened before they could talk more, and Yuzu came in. Noticing the looks, she sighed. "Taro and I had a disagreement, because he did something stupid. He just came by to apologize for the stupid thing he did, and we're all good now. It's not that big of a deal anymore."

"Sounds good to me." Karin replied, as she pulled her legs up on the couch.

Swatting Zorro away from her empty ice cream bowl, Yuzu eyed Karin and what she was wearing. "That's what you're wearing on your date with Toshiro?"

Looking down at her clothes, Karin raised an eyebrow at Yuzu. "What's wrong with it?"

"You look like a walking funeral." Yuzu deadpanned.

Karin rolled her eyes, but before she could speak, Hana shook her head. "I think you look nice, Karin."

"Thank you," Karin said, her phone buzzed, and she stood up. "Toshiro's outside. We'll be back by ten."

"You can stay out until ten thirty," Isshin said, nodding once. "I don't want you two rushing home after the movie. I'll leave the light on for you."

"Thanks dad." Karin replied, grabbing her jacket before she walked out. Smiling as she could see Toshiro standing outside his car waiting for her.

* * *

 **A/N: Yuzu and Taro are considering having sex again, and if you also follow along with my story "Finding What's Lost" you know that Aizen is working along with a woman who took them all for a turn. Orihime's been increasingly depressed, and it's starting to feel like the same situation of fearing that Aizen's just around the corner we felt in the first story "The Reason".**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**


	23. Preparing For The Art Gala

_Review:_

" _Thank you," Karin said, her phone buzzed, and she stood up. "Toshiro's outside. We'll be back by ten."_

" _You can stay out until ten thirty," Isshin said, nodding once. "I don't want you two rushing home after the movie. I'll leave the light on for you."_

" _Thanks dad." Karin replied, grabbing her jacket before she walked out. Smiling as she could see Toshiro standing outside his car waiting for her._

* * *

 **A couple weeks later, Thursday, March 23rd**

Propping her head on her hand, Karin glanced around the big library around her. After soccer practice, she found her mind focusing heavily on the library and the mystery of why it was so important to her. _I've gone around this library hundreds of times, and nothing has reached out to me._

Glancing down at her phone, her eyes widened, and she jumped up. She had ten minutes until her curfew, and she was at least fifteen minutes from the house. She slung her bag over her shoulders, as she took off out of the library. Taking a full on sprint down the sidewalk, she kept on the way to the house, and hoped she'd make it in time.

When she did finally get to her house, she practically hopped up on the porch, and ran inside just before it hit ten o'clock.

Hana raised an eyebrow from where she was on the couch. "What's wrong Karin? Is someone chasing after you?"

Unable to enjoy the humor behind Hana's questions, Karin had to take deep breaths. "Curfew."

Isshin walked out of the kitchen, and moved over to hand Hana a cup of tea. "You're cutting it pretty close, Karin."

"I was in the library, and I lost track of time." Karin replied, finally able to breathe a little bit more normal."

"Why were you in the library?" Isshin asked.

"Homework," Karin explained, as she picked up Zorro and started to the stairs. "I'm going to go ahead and shower and go to bed."

"Did you have dinner?" Hana asked before Karin could go upstairs.

"Yes, Natsuki and I grabbed something after soccer practice." Was all Karin said, before she started upstairs. Once in her room, she put Zorro down on her bed, and went into her closet to grab pajamas to change into after her shower. Stopping in front of her mirror, her thoughts started going towards the library again. _I don't understand. I thought that once I found the library, the reason why I was having dreams and thoughts about it would just come to me. But it's been forever since I found the library, and I still don't know why it's so special… I guess I'll figure it out eventually._

 **The next day**

Setting her painting on the rack to dry, Yuzu sighed as she looked at it. "I'm really proud of this one."

"That looks so professional, I might die from being starstruck when I look at you." Hinata said, as she put her own painting on a different rack to dry.

Rolling her eyes at Hinata's dramatic words and laughter, Yuzu smirked as she looked to the paintings. It was their last couple of paintings that they were going to submit for the art gala. They were cutting it close to the deadline that was going to be at the end of the school day in half an hour. She and Hinata returned to the side of the big art room that had tables, and sat down by their stuff. The other students in the class were still painting or sketching, and the teacher was focused on that side of the room.

"When's the art gala again?"

"It'll be in a few weeks, the second week of April," Yuzu replied, as she grabbed her phone. Pulling up her grades on her phone, she was currently sitting at two As, three Bs, and two Cs. "My grades are rough."

Hinata glanced over, and shook her head. "You have two As and three Bs on there. I wish mine was like that."

"You forgot to mention the two Cs," Yuzu said, as she set her phone down to stop looking at it. "My dad's not going to be too happy about those if I can't get them up before the end of the semester."

"Your good grades should balance out your bad ones," Hinata reassured, as she leaned back on her chair. "You're super smart when it comes to biology and math, you'll keep those two at As for sure, and you just need to keep those other three classes at Bs."

"That's going to require a lot of studying, then Spring Break is coming up, oh and the art gala… I don't know how I'm going to have time." Yuzu replied, as she and Hinata shared a smile then laughed.

"So, do you know if you're going to be able to do the art program again?"

At Hinata bringing that up, Yuzu sighed and propped her head on her hand. "I want to do it. It completely changed my life last Summer… Okay, don't give me that look. Most of it changed my life, the thing at the end taught me a lesson."

Hinata grinned at that. "You and Taro having hot sex is certainly a lesson."

"Hinata," Yuzu said, her eyes going to the others in the class, who were oblivious to what they were talking about, then back to Hinata. "I don't even know if my dad's going to let me go this time. I've made some money working at the boutique for the last few months, and I can pretty much pay for myself. Then I'll hopefully make some money at the art gala if my paintings sell."

"You'll definitely make money at the art gala," Hinata said, waving off Yuzu's uncertainty. "You'll also probably get that scholarship too."

"Let's hope so." Yuzu replied, before the teacher whistled to get everyone's attention. Drowning out what the teacher was saying, Yuzu's eyes went down to her phone to see a text from Taro, who was at work now, as he got out for work-based learning after sixth period. She smiled at the array of emoji's he was sending. _I hope I'll be able to do the art program again._

 **In the study at home**

Trying to play a few more notes, Karin sighed as her hands fell from the keyboard. Zorro had jumped up on the piano again, and walked along the edge right about where the keys were. "You are distracting Zorro… You can stay there only if you promise not to be too cute."

Zorro remained perched on the top of the piano, and licked his paw a few times.

Sighing heavily, Karin shook her head and tried to focus back on playing the piece she was working on. She had played for barely a minute when Zorro took interest in her hands, and started to step on the piano keys. Karin started to laugh as she had tried to keep playing, but he was distorting her song with all the keys he was stepping on. Finally giving up, she picked him up, and shook her head. "You promised you wouldn't be so cute."

Clapping came from the doorway of the room, and Toshiro walked in. Smiling at her as he came closer. "That was great… I think my favorite part was Zorro's contributions."

Karin laughed before she tilted her head up so they could kiss. "Thanks, I'm sure he tried very hard. How did you get inside?"

"I came in just as your dad and Hana were leaving," Toshiro replied, sitting on the other side of the piano bench than her. "I was wondering if you wanted to go to dinner."

Sighing heavily, Karin looked back the piano. "I want to, but I'm still kind of stuck on this piece. I've got to perform it in a month, and I'm not sure it'll be good enough. I put my application in for the music program, but the guy who offered me a spot last year is also going to be at this music performance again. If I completely suck this year, he might not recommend me again, and I might not get in the program."

"Your piece is perfect," Toshiro reassured her, as he had motioned to the sheet music. "I've heard you play it at least four times now, and it gets better everytime."

Karin shrugged and stared at the sheet music.

"I do have one suggestion," Toshiro said, getting her to look at him. "I would leave Zorro out of the performance."

That finally broke a smile back on Karin's face, as she moved to collect the sheet music to put back in her folder. "Sorry Zorro, your plans have been foiled."

Toshiro laughed as he stood up along with her. "Let's go get dinner."

"Okay," Karin agreed, then they kissed. "But only if it's Mexican, because I love Chinese and all, but we've had it so much lately."

"I'm good with that." Toshiro agreed, smiling as they kissed again.

 **The next day, Saturday the 25th**

"Hey dad!" Yuzu called, as she and Hinata walked into the house. "Can Hinata stay for dinner?!"

"Sure thing!" Isshin called back from the kitchen.

Hana walked down the stairs, and offered a smile in Yuzu and Hinata's direction. "Hey girls… you two are covered in paint."

"We spent the last week painting for the art gala, and we just decided to go to the art studio and paint for fun." Yuzu explained as she and Hinata kicked off their shoes.

"Emphasis on the 'fun' part." Hinata added, sharing a laugh with Yuzu.

Isshin came out of the kitchen, and joined them in the living room. "Dinner should be ready soon. It'll just be us tonight. Karin and Toshiro went out for dinner together."

"Do you think Orihime and Ichigo might drop by?" Yuzu asked hopefully, but she noticed her dad's frown.

"I don't think so," Isshin replied with a sigh. "I don't think Orihime wants to go anywhere still."

It got real quiet in the house, and Hana cleared her throat in an attempt to change the subject. "So the girls were talking about how they've been painting for an art gala all week."

"Well we've been painting for it the last couple of months, but any last minute paintings had to be finished by the end of the school day yesterday. As the gala is going to be in a couple of weeks." Yuzu explained further, as she and Hinata sat down on the other couch.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that," Isshin said, offering Yuzu a smile when she raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry. I will make sure that I am there."

Yuzu nodded, as she looked to Hana. "I don't know if my dad's already said anything, but you're welcome to come as well. It's just a bunch of paintings and some sculptures. Mind you it's only submissions from the middle school, high school, and some local colleges. So it might not be that interesting."

"I would love to come," Hana said, as she pulled out her phone. "I'll mark it on my calendar."

"It's April 14th- oh and don't forget Karin's music performance." Isshin added,

Hinata's phone beeped, and she sighed and stood up. "It's my mom. I'm going to step outside and call my mom real quick. My mom wants to talk about the art program deposit fee."

Yuzu raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you tell your mom that you were going to pay for it?"

"Yes," Hinata replied, as she paused by the couch closest to the dining room table. "But, she is trying to fight me on it, and wants to pay for it herself. It's only because she's trying to make up for the fact that she and my father are going to spend practically the whole Summer in the islands with my little sister, and I'm going to be at the art program, then I'm going to be stuck at home by myself for the rest of the Summer."

"You won't be stuck at home by yourself," Yuzu disagreed, smirking at Hinata's dramatic tone. "You can come over here, and I can go over there sometimes. It'll be fun."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Hinata said, before she turned to go to the back door to go out.

After Hinata went outside, Isshin looked to Yuzu. "You haven't said anything to me about the art program this year."

Feeling a little awkward at that, Yuzu shrugged. "I didn't know if that was something we should discuss after last year."

Isshin was quiet for a moment. "Yuzu, it's an art program. Regardless on what happened last year, it's a good program. It'll look good on college applications. I already saw the letter in the mail a month ago for you to send in your application."

Yuzu was the one to remain in silence as she and her dad stared at each other. "I'd like to go… I have saved up almost enough money to pay for it, and I'll probably get the rest from the gala. Then there is also a scholarship that I could possibly get again."

"Well I'd be happy to pay for some of it too. You should go," Isshin said, then he cleared his throat. "So Taro hasn't really been around the house lately-"

"We've just both been working a lot," Yuzu interrupted, waving it off. "It's like we haven't had a single day where both of us were off of work at the same time the past week or so. But we're fine."

A timer went off from the kitchen, and Isshin stood up. "Dinner's probably ready."

Hinata had just come back inside, and Hana met Yuzu's eyes. "Let's go set the table."

"Okay, I'm starving." Yuzu agreed, as they got up. Smiling a little as they went to get the plates and silverware. _I'm so glad that dad's letting me go this year._

 **The next day**

Walking out of the house, Yuzu smiled at the sight of Taro's car parked out on the street outside her house. He was leaning against the car, and had his typical lopsided grin on his face. Unable to contain her excitement, she took off across the yard, and practically jumped into his arms when she got to him.

"Hey baby." Taro greeted, before kissing her several times.

"I've missed you," Yuzu said, enjoying his arms around her. "I feel like it's been forever."

"I know," Taro agreed, as he pulled back a bit to look at her. "It's been like the universe has been trying to keep us apart with how it seems like one or both of us has had to work every day the past week and a half."

As they finally broke apart to get in his car, Yuzu waited until he got in on his side, before she smiled again. "So I've got some news."

Raising an eyebrow at how big Yuzu's smile was, Taro paused after cranking the car up. "What?"

"I'm going to get to go to the art program again this Summer," Yuzu said, laughing as she let her head rest back on the seat. "I was so worried that I wouldn't get to go, but my dad agreed."

"Finally," Taro said, starting the car forward, as he reached over for one of her hands. "I'm glad he said yes. I was kind of worried he wouldn't after… you know."

"Yeah, I mean I would have asked him sooner, but I was nervous he'd say no. But he actually brought it up today, and he said that I could go. I'm so freaking happy."

"Me too. I can't wait to go," Taro agreed, pausing at a stop sign to look to her. "Last year's program was kind of life changing."

Yuzu's smile widened, as she nodded. "It was."

"So," Taro said, after finally going forward again. "Where do you want to eat?"

Yuzu hummed lowly. "Is that new place open yet?"

"I don't think so," Taro replied after a moment. "They probably won't be open until the summer. They just started construction on it a month ago."

"I don't know how construction works apparently," Yuzu said, laughing along with Taro. "I actually have an idea."

 **At the hospital**

"Well, thanks you guys." Isshin said, as he and Hana were both seated on the couch in his office. Accepting a to-go bag of food from Yuzu.

"Yuzu gets the credit. It was her idea." Taro said, offering a smile to Yuzu as they shared a look.

"I just thought since you two are going to be working late that it might be nice." Yuzu said.

"Chiyo's?" Hana questioned at the name on the bag. "Where's that at?"

"It's near the big bridge," Taro explained. "It's a white brick building, and it has a porch out front."

Yuzu nodded. "You would almost think it could be a house, but the sign and the parking lot full of cars gives it away. Taro found in last year, and it's one of our favorite places."

"It smells delicious." Hana said, as Isshin got the food containers out of the bag.

"Yuzu, just to remind you, I'll be going over to Hana's house tonight," Isshin said, his eyes meeting his daughter's. "But if you need anything, just give me a call."

Yuzu shrugged and grinned. "I'll just bother Karin. She _loves_ when I wake her up in the middle of the night."

That made them all laugh, as Yuzu and Taro readied to leave. "Thanks again for the food."

"You're welcome," Yuzu said to Hana, before she and Taro left. As they got in the elevator, she noticed Taro's smile. "What?"

"I was just thinking how strange it is for you to practically have the house to yourself tonight. That never happens." Taro replied, as he met her eyes.

Yuzu's own smile widened, as she shrugged and looked to the elevator doors. "That's true."

 **The Library**

Settling down in one of the big armchairs in the library, Karin closed her eyes, and let her head rest back on the chair. _I am beginning to hate this place. It's important enough for me to obsess over it for this long, and at this point, I think I'm wasting my time._ Her phone buzzing got her attention, and it was a text from Toshiro.

 _Toshiro: What are you doing?_

 _Karin: Dying at the library right now._

 _Toshiro: Again? You've been going there so much the past few weeks._

 _Karin: I know. I think I'm obsessed, and I can't let this go._

 _Toshiro: Well, I've got a distraction to offer you._

 _Karin: I'm listening._

 _Toshiro: How about you come over to my place to spend the night tonight? I could come pick you up and we can go back to your house so you can get some stuff._

 _Karin: Big question: Can I bring Zorro?_

 _Toshiro: I have a feeling even if I said 'no', he will end up in my apartment anyway._

 _Karin: You know me so well._

 _Toshiro: Haha. I'll be there in a little bit. I've just got to wrap a couple of things up over at Urahara's._

Karin texted him back that sounds good, and set her phone down. Propping her head up with her hand, she glanced around the library again, then closed her eyes. _This is getting ridiculous._ Her thoughts slowly faded away, and slumber took over her.

 _Walking into the library, she stopped to look around the huge shelves. Her feet started her forward again, past some of the biggest shelves, and to a smaller area of the library. Looking back, the tables, couches, and the main desk had disappeared behind several shelves of books. She found herself at a door marked restricted. She had passed it several times, and thought it to be an employee break room or something._

 _Picking the lock, she entered the room, and found several more shelves of books in there. Her feet took her past several of them, and down one with a lot of older books on it. One with a dark red cover on it caught her eyes, and she pulled it off the shelf. It had no title on it, and it was fairly heavy with the thicker almost leather material on the cover. She started to open the front cover, curious to find out what the book was about._

"Karin."

Toshiro's voice broke her free of her dream, and she opened her eyes quickly to see him standing next to her. "I texted you a few times from outside, but you weren't answering. I can see why now."

Stretching, Karin yawned as she stood up. "I guess I fell asleep."

"I would guess that sitting in here and staring at bookshelves would do that to you," Toshiro joked, laughing along with her, as he took her hand after she grabbed her bag. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, I guess." Karin replied, as she looked back over her shoulder in the direction of where that restricted door was. _I wonder…_

"Anymore progress here?" Toshiro asked, noticing Karin looking at the opposite side of the library as they were leaving.

"I don't know, maybe..." Karin trailed off, as they left. She raised an eyebrow as it was now dark outside. "Wow, I was in there longer than I thought."

"Yeah, I'm surprised you're not starving to death," Toshiro said, as they got to his car, and he opened the passenger's side door for her. "I was thinking we should order food and go pick it up after we get your stuff and Zorro from your house."

"That'd be great." Karin agreed, as she got in the car. As Toshiro closed the door and walked around to the other side, her eyes went back to the library. _I wonder if that dream is real…_

 **That night**

Setting her journal back in her desk drawer, Yuzu stretched her arms up, then moved back over to her bed. Pulling back her comforter, she grabbed her laptop to set up Netflix. _With everyone busy tonight, you would think I would be doing something cooler. Like throwing a party or going out with my friends, but here I am. Getting in bed at eight thirty, and watching a movie. I'm basically turning into an old lady._

A knock on her window got her attention before she could get in bed, and she raised an eyebrow as she walked over. A smile forming on her face, as she saw Taro on the other side. Unlocking the window, she opened it, and chuckled. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, I was just in the neighborhood, and I was looking for some company with my seriously beautiful girlfriend." Taro replied, his lopsided grin on his face at how that made Yuzu laugh.

Moving out of the way so Taro could come in her room, Yuzu closed the window back. "You didn't have to come through my window."

"Well, I was trying to be low-key."

"You could have fallen and broken your neck or something," Yuzu said, laughing along with him. "That would not be that low-key."

Taro shrugged, as he grinned again. "I mean I'd at least make an entrance."

"Oh my god," Yuzu laughed, as she moved over to sit on her bed. "You didn't actually need to climb in through my window. You already knew that my dad and Hana weren't going to be here tonight, but Karin actually isn't here either. She is spending the night over at Toshiro's. She told me when she came home to get Zorro and some clothes."

"Damn, I almost died for nothing." Taro replied, smirking as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"So," Yuzu said, an eyebrow raised at him remaining standing by her window. "How long can you stay?"

That seemed to bring Taro to walk over, and sit on the bed as well. "If you want, I could spend the night. I told my parents I was staying over at Jax's house."

"Good, because I was hoping you'd get to sleep over," Yuzu replied, smiling as Taro took off his shoes, then she motioned to her laptop. "I was actually about to watch a movie."

"I'm down with that," Taro said, moving so he could kick his feet up on the bed, as he leaned back against the pillows and the headboard on the bed. "It'll be just like the old times back at our art program."

"Yeah, but this time you can't complain if we watch a romantic comedy, because that is one hundred percent what I planned on watching."

Taro met Yuzu's eyes and he smirked. "I don't complain."

Shaking her head back at Taro, Yuzu smirked herself. "Yes, you do. Every time we watch a romantic comedy together, you either make fun of it or laugh the entire time."

"That's the point of the 'comedy' part of romantic comedy." Taro shot back, poking her side to get her to laugh.

"That's only for certain parts of the movie, not the entire thing."

"I guess we better get this whole laughing thing out of the way before we watch this movie then, as apparently, I am going to have to be dead silent the entire time- hey!" Taro broke off, as Yuzu returned the poking as she was laughing.

"You are so dramatic." Yuzu said, laughing along with him as they started poking each other more.

After a few minutes, Taro kissed Yuzu instead of poking her, and when their kiss broke their expressions softened. Kissing her again, he raised an eyebrow as Yuzu had moved closer to sitting on his lap. After a few minutes passed, her broke their kissing, and he met her eyes. "Yuzu."

Yuzu smiled, as she brought a hand to rest on the side of his face. "Taro, I want to. I'm ready. We're ready."

Staring at her for a moment longer, Taro nodded once, as he smiled and kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you too." Yuzu replied and kissed him. She grabbed her shirt and pulled it off over her head, before she kissed him again.

* * *

 **A/N: A lot seems to be happening for Karin and Yuzu. Karin is trying to solve the puzzle of the Library, and Yuzu and Taro's relationship seems to be growing everyday. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**


	24. The Library Book

_Review:_

 _Yuzu smiled, as she brought a hand to rest on the side of his face. "Taro, I want to. I'm ready. We're ready."_

 _Staring at her for a moment longer, Taro nodded once, as he smiled and kissed her. "I love you."_

" _I love you too." Yuzu replied and kissed him. She grabbed her shirt and pulled it off over her head before she kissed him again._

* * *

 **Two and a half weeks later, April 14th**

"This is a nice way to spend a Friday night."

Hearing Hana say that brought a smile to Yuzu's face, her eyes sweeping around them at the art gala. "Thank you for coming. I really appreciate it."

"I've been excited to come," Hana said, offering Yuzu a big smile. "And you look lovely in that red dress of yours. So grown up."

Yuzu's cheeks went a little red. Orihime was nodding in agreement with Hana. "I know, she looks so pretty."

"Thanks- Hey Orihime." Yuzu broke off as Orihime had pushed her over a little closer to the wall.

"I need to get a few pictures of you with all of your artwork," Orihime told her, stepping back to hold up her phone in Yuzu's direction. "Just a few pictures."

"You've said that about a hundred times tonight." Yuzu said, sighing as she put a smile on her face. Hana had joined Orihime in taking the photos, just as Rin and Kei walked over with Raya.

Rin smiling as she looked to the photos Orihime was taking. "Oh send me some of those."

Once it seemed the picture taking was done, Yuzu's eyes went to Rin and Kei. "I didn't know you were coming."

"Of course we'd be here to support you." Rin said, waving it off like it was obvious, as she smiled big in Yuzu's direction.

"Yeah, Raya has been really looking forward to this," Kei added, as he motioned to the little girl who was already up close to the wall to look at all the paintings. "She talked about it the entire way to and from pre-school today."

"Sorry we're late," Mai apologized, as she showed up with Hikari and Emi. "Emi didn't want to put her shoes on."

"Why not? They're pretty shoes." Yuzu said, smiling as she tickled Emi a little bit.

Emi giggled, as she wiggled so her dad would set her down.

Attention went over as Taro and his parents showed up, Yuzu's eyes met Taro's and her smile widened as she saw him. While her family was distracted by Taro's parents now, she slipped away with Taro, and they moved over to where his art was hanging on the walls.

"You look beautiful." Taro said, smirking as he took her hand as they stopped in front of his artwork.

"Thank you," Yuzu said, her eyes remained on him. "This kind of feels like deja vu."

Taro chuckled, and he lifted her hand up so he could kiss it. "This was the first place we met after all."

"A lot has changed since then," Yuzu said, feeling a fluttering feel inside of her at how she just melted at Taro's eyes on her. "All for the better."

"I couldn't agree more." Taro told her, both their eyes shining with happiness.

 **On the other side of the exhibit**

With her arm looped through Toshiro's, Karin admired some of the photographs on the wall in front of them. "These are beautiful."

Toshiro nodded in agreement, as they moved down to another set of photos. "I hate to say it, but I do need to leave soon. I have to go to the Soul Society tonight."

"I know. I was just hoping we'd have more time," Karin said, sighing heavily, but she smiled at Toshiro. "I actually think I'm going back to the library tonight."

"The dream again?"

"Yeah, but now it's like all I can see is myself walking into the restricted section. I feel like that book must be pretty damn important if I've been dreaming about it for so long… Well, I've been dreaming about the library in general for a while, but still, the book is obviously why I've been having those dreams. The library is closed now, but I think it's best if I go when it's closed."

"I can go with you if you want." Toshiro offered, as they finally finished looking at the photographs.

Karin shook her head. "No, you've got to the Soul Society. However, I will probably be using you as an excuse to go outside for a bit."

Toshiro smirked, as they turned around to go find her family. "I'm glad I could be of service. Let's go say goodbye to the others."

"Great, I'll say I'm walking you out to your car and that I'll catch up with them in a little while," Karin said, then she waved a hand at Toshiro's raised eyebrow. "And it's because I actually want to say goodbye to you, not just because I want to go to the library."

"Right," Toshiro said, leaning over to kiss her cheek. "Let's go."

 **Outside**

Kissing Toshiro again, Karin sighed when they pulled apart. "Let me know the second you get back from the Soul Society."

"I will. I love you," Toshiro said, kissing her one last time, before turning to get in his car. "Don't get caught breaking into the library."

"I won't get caught, and I love you too." Karin laughed, and she waved when he finally drove away. Once his car was out of sight, she started across the street, and went down a couple blocks to the library. Walking around until she got to the back doors, she started at the lock. It took a while, but she finally unlocked the door. To her relief there was no alarms going off when she opened it, and she released the breath she had been holding.

Walking in, she found herself in a back employee room, and her eyebrows rose when she was able to open the door to the library with no problems. _Is there no security in here?_ Despite feeling like she could easily walk through the building no problem, she took her time walking back to the restricted section. As she approached the door, she found herself relieving the dream she's been having the past few months, and specifically the addition with this room.

Without really thinking about it, she picked the lock, and entered the room slowly. Several shelves of books towered over her, and she went straight to one with the older books on it. Going halfway down, she reached out for a dark red book, and pulled it off the shelf. Knowing she got what she came for, she shoved it in her bag, and left quickly.

Once she was back outside, the cool night air hit her roughly, and she walked as quickly back to Karakura's Art and History Museum where the gala was being held. She went to her dad's car to put her bag in there and she grabbed her cardigan. The excuse she gave her dad that it might take her a little bit longer to come back inside, as she was going to grab the cardigan after she and Toshiro said goodbye. Once back inside the building, she released a deep breath, and took one of the waters off the entrance table. Taking a sip, she smiled into the glass. _That was a piece of cake._

 **Later that night**

Stretching her arms up above her head, Karin was relieved to finally be in her pajamas and to have taken all her makeup off. _It's nice to dress up every once in a while, but nothing is better than some cozy pajamas._ Grabbing a drink from the refrigerator, she walked into the living room where both her dad and Hana were laughing from the couch. "What's so funny?"

"Zorro tried hopping up on top of the TV, and he overshot a bit," Hana replied, laughing at where Zorro was now sitting beneath the coffee table in his cat bed. Looking around anxiously. "Bless his heart."

Smirking as she knelt down and scratched the ground in order to get Zorro to run over to her in an attempt to attack her hand. She scooped him up with that free arm instead. "I'm actually going to go ahead and go to bed early. I have a soccer game tomorrow after all."

"Right," Isshin said, as he glanced over to Hana. "Should we be going to bed too?"

"Is that what responsible adults do these days?" Hana countered, as she and Isshin laughed.

Karin smirked as she noted the champagne flutes on the table, and she shook her head. She knew they had already got into the champagne at the gala. _I guess they planned on continuing the party at home._ "You two have a great rest of your night."

"Goodnight Karin." Isshin said, laughing along with Hana.

Not sure what happened that caused them both two laugh, Karin chuckled as she went up the stairs. Once in her room, she set Zorro on her bed, and went back to push her door closed. She left it cracked a little just in case Zorro wanted to go out. She grabbed the book she took from the library, and got in bed. She held it on her lap for a moment, as she found herself running through her dream a thousand times. _This has all led up to this moment…_ Taking a long deep breath, she finally urged herself to open the book.

Three circles caught her eye immediately on the inside cover. The Somi symbol stared back at her. The three circles representing the earth, sun, and moon. _Oh my god. Is this a book about Somi's?_ Having been staring at the symbol for a moment, she realized changes too it. There was a ring around the Somi symbol, and what looked like an arrow crossing behind the whole thing. _I don't get this. Why would I have been dreaming about this?_ With that question in mind, she started to open to the first page.

"Hey!" Yuzu's voice caught her ears, before she walked into Karin's room.

Karin was quick to close the book. "Hey, what's up?"

"Move over, I am bored and need someone to talk to." Yuzu replied, as she got up on Karin's bed. Her hands going to Zorro to give him some attention.

"Um okay." Karin said, leaning over she set the book in her top desk drawer, and closed it before she straightened back up to look at Yuzu. Her hands clasped together.

"Dad and Hana are tipsy," Yuzu said, laughing. "It's hilarious."

"Yeah, I noticed. They were very giggly," Karin said, and she shrugged. "It's nice to see dad so happy."

"Yeah, I agree completely." Yuzu said, before she started talking about the highlights of the gala that evening.

Karin tried to pay attention to what her sister was saying, but her mind was focusing on that book in the desk drawer. _What is it? If it's about Somi's, why am I dreaming of it? Then the whole extra ring and the arrow… What does that mean?_

 **The next day, noon**

Finishing up taking photos with the whole soccer team, Karin split off to take photos with the other freshman on the team, and it finally dwindled down to just her and Natsuki getting their photos together. Holding their medals, and the team's trophy.

"Okay," the photographer said, from where she was taking their photos for them. "I got it."

"Thanks!" Karin called over, laughing as the photographer handed Karin's phone back to her. Then she and Natsuki looked through the photos. "We're covered in dirt."

"I think we hit the ground more than anyone else today," Natsuki agreed, then she laughed. "Of course we won the game, so I guess that it was worth it."

"Karin! Natsuki!" Their coach's voice was heard, before she came over to them. "The season is over, and I wanted to say you both played a great season. It's hard being the freshmen on the team, but you two showed great promise from early on. Can't wait to have you both back next year."

"Thanks coach." Karin and Natsuki chorused.

The second the coach walked away, Natsuki deadpanned. "Oh look she can be nice. It only took until the season was over for that to happen."

Karin grinned. "Well we won almost all of our games, and we were first in our division. It was a good thing she was tough on us this year."

"Yeah, yeah," Natsuki said, waving off Karin's words, as her eyes went down to her phone. "I have to go. My parents want to see me."

"Alright, let's get together later and have dinner!" Karin called as Natsuki had started going up the bleachers to her parents. She turned just in time to see her family coming down the bleachers to her. She propped a hand on her hip. "I was just about to go find you guys."

"Congratulations Karin." Orihime was the first to say, as she had Mina propped on her hip.

Smiling as her family congratulated her, Karin grabbed her bag. "Can we go get food? I'm starving."

"We were thinking about going somewhere nice." Isshin said, as they had started up the bleachers.

"Yeah, I don't think so," Ichigo said, eyeing his sister. "I don't think anyone is going to let her inside their restaurant with how much dirt she has on her."

Karin laughed, as she pointed to him. "You're absolutely correct. I am covered in so much dirt, it'll probably take three showers to get off of me."

"How about we just go to Rocky's?" Hana suggested, as they finally got up to the top of the bleachers, and walked to the parking lot.

"I'm always down for some Rocky's." Karin said, smiling when she noticed that Rin, Kei and Raya were ahead of them.

"Sorry, we would have came down to the field, but I was worried about getting Raya's dress dirty." Rin apologized with a smile.

Raya was jumping up and down as soon as she saw Karin. "That was so cool! I want to do that when I get older!"

Karin laughed at Raya's enthusiasm. "Sure. You can do whatever you want to and be whoever you want to be. You certainly have the energy to do some sport, no matter what it is."

"You have no idea," Rin said, smiling at both Karin and Yuzu. "She just idolizes you two so much. She was talking all about the art gala the whole way home yesterday, and how she wanted to make pretty paintings like Yuzu."

"You can do it all," Karin encouraged, as she opened the door to her dad's car to throw her bag in. "Alright, let's go, I'm starving."

"Where are we going?!" Raya asked.

"Rocky's, if that's okay with you?" Karin countered, smiling at how wide Raya's eyes got.

"Yay, I love Rocky's!" Raya cheered, jumping up and down.

"I have a feeling she won't be taking a nap today." Kei said, at Raya jumping down.

"Probably not," Rin said, taking Raya's hand as she waved to the others. "We'll meet you all there."

Once everyone walked to their own cars, Isshin grabbed a towel out of the trunk of the car. "Hey, sit on this."

"Yeah, I know. You don't want me to get dirt all in your car. I don't know why you're so worried, I've never got dirt in your car, _ever_." Karin said, grabbing the towel from her dad. Smiling at how that made Hana and Yuzu laugh, and her dad was smirking and rolling his eyes.

 **The Kurosaki house, a couple of hours later**

Grabbing her bag, Yuzu stopped one last time in the mirror to push back a few stray hairs, and smiled as she approved of her appearance. Leaving her room, she sighed as Zorro tried to race her down the hall. Karin was gone to hang out with Natsuki before they had dinner in a couple of hours. Once she was downstairs, she grabbed her shoes to put on.

"Oh where are you off to?" Hana asked, as she walked out of the kitchen. A cup of tea in hand.

"Over to Taro's," Yuzu replied, as she knelt down to tie her shoes. "We are going to go to the skating rink."

"That sounds like fun," Hana said, her eyes going to the stairs when Isshin came down them. "Your tea is on the kitchen counter."

"Thank you," Isshin said, kissing her once, before focusing on Yuzu. "Where-"

"Roller skating with Taro." Yuzu answered before her dad could ask where she was going. She straightened up, and looked down at her phone. Waiting for the text from Taro that he was here.

"Before you go, there is something I would like to talk to you about. Specifically, your grades that came back on your progress report."

Freezing up, Yuzu felt a bit of nerves hit her, as she glanced to her dad. "I'm going to work on getting them up. They aren't that bad."

"Well, you have Cs in three classes, one of which is close to becoming an F," Isshin said, shaking his head at Yuzu trying to wave it off. "With Spring Break next week, I know you probably have plans, but-"

"Dad, please don't tell me I have to cancel my plans to study," Yuzu interrupted, a frown deep on her face. "I can get my grades up, I promise!"

Isshin sighed at her insistence. "I'm not saying you have to cancel your plans, but I think it's important that you put aside time to start studying. If you can't get those Cs up to at least Bs, you will not be going on your art program. Do you understand?"

"Yes dad, of course." Yuzu said, smiling at her dad, then her focus went down to her phone. "Oh, Taro's here. I'll be home in a few hours, and I promise dad, that I will study."

"Thank you!" Isshin called, as Yuzu was already halfway out the door. He sighed as he watched her go out to Taro's car through the window, and shook his head.

"I'm sure she'll get her grades up," Hana encouraged, as she rested a hand on Isshin's arm. "She's just had a lot going on the past few months. I'm sure she spent a lot of last month worrying about Orihime too."

Isshin sighed, but he nodded. "I hope she'll be more focused from now on. She used to be the one I wouldn't have to worry about."

 **That evening**

After saying goodbye to Natsuki and her mom who dropped her off at her house, Karin started to the front porch. _As soon as I get inside, I'm going to say goodnight quickly, and get in bed and try to read that book._ _Yuzu and I fell asleep talking last night, and I didn't have a chance to read it. Then I had soccer this morning, then it was like I never had a moment to myself since then. It's like the universe is laughing at me._ _I've finally got what I've been looking for, and the universe is like, "joke's on you, here are a bunch of obstacles to put in your way to keep you from continuing", and it's really starting to get on my nerves._

Entering the house, she was greeted by the smell of what seemed like some sort of Mexican food, and laughter coming from the kitchen. "I'm home!"

Hana and Isshin both walked out of the kitchen, along with Zorro, who had hurriedly trotted over to her for attention. Hana offered her a smile. "How was dinner with Natsuki?"

"It was good," Karin said, scratching Zorro behind his ears, as she feigned a yawn. "I'm pretty tired though. I'm thinking about going to bed early."

"Well, I know you've already ate, but we made fajitas for dinner. You're welcome to have some. We're also about to watch a movie." Hana offered, as she and Isshin moved over to sit on one of the couches.

"I'll probably pass."

"So," Isshin started, after Karin didn't say anything more. "When is Toshiro supposed to be coming back?"

"I don't know actually. He's supposed to be in the-" Karin broke off, as her eyes went to Hana, who in response started to laugh.

"The Soul Society?" Hana asked, her laugh continuing at Karin's obvious shock. She motioned to herself once she stopped laughing. "Shinigami."

Karin's eyes widened, as she tried to take all this in. "You're a shinigami… Since when?"

"About twenty-five years now." Hana replied calmly, her smile remaining on her face, as Karin was obviously still very much shocked.

Isshin, however, was grinning ear-to-ear. "I'm surprised it took you this long to find out. Let alone that Hana had to actually tell you. Ichigo found out back in January."

That seemed to spark fire in Karin's eyes. "Well, why didn't he tell me?!"

Watching Karin get her phone back out, as she started quickly texting, Isshin smirked. "Yelling at him over text message isn't going to-"

"It's going to make me feel better," Karin interrupted, finishing her few paragraph long text to Ichigo, she sighed as she looked back to her father and Hana. "Honestly, I don't even know why I'm surprised. Apparently, everyone in my life turns out to be somehow a shinigami, somi, or quincy. Well, not everyone, but still."

Hana's smile softened as she waved a hand. "So back to what we were talking about… You don't know when Toshiro will be back?"

"He said it could be a few days or a week," Karin replied with a shrug. "So I'm basically going to try to get my boss to put me on the schedule for the next couple days at work, then I have my music performance. Then I guess I'll either try to work more—or train—to pass the free time during Spring Break."

"Oh don't you want to have fun, maybe spend time with your friends?" Hana countered, raising an eyebrow. "It's Spring Break, you should enjoy it. Just because your boyfriend may or not be here, doesn't mean you don't get to go out and have fun."

Karin sighed, smiling at the thought. "I know, but it's just not nearly as much fun if he's not around for me to bother him. I'll probably see if my friends want to hang out a few times… Anyway, I'm going to let you two get on to watching this movie. Enjoy it."

After they said goodnight, Karin started up the stairs, Zorro wiggling in her arms to escape. As soon as he was down on the ground, he trotted ahead of her to her room. Pushing the door open, he jumped up on her bed, and moved to the pillows to curl up. She went through her normal nightly routine of washing her face and brushing her teeth, and changing into pajamas. When she finally returned to her bed, she eyed the clock, and cringed at how it was only eight p.m. _I can't believe I'm already in bed… I'm not going to sleep anytime soon, but still. This feels wrong._

Retrieving the book from where she has stashed it the night before, Karin opened the cover again, and stared at the drawing. _The Somi symbol surrounded by an extra ring and an arrow going through it… I just don't get it. I guess I'll find out soon enough._ Taking a breath, she flipped to the next page, and found it had started right away into the first chapter of the book. _There's no title? Not even a summary of what the book is about… Okay then, let's just get started reading and see what happens._

 **A couple of days later, April 17th**

"Don't be so nervous Karin," Orihime said, noticing how Karin was fidgeting with her curled hair. "You'll be fine."

"I still don't really like performing in front of people," Karin said, as she had to force her hand to drop away from her hair. "Let alone pieces that I wrote myself."

"You've played the piece like a hundred time. You'll be fine." Isshin added for additional encouragement.

"I don't know about that." Karin disagreed, as her eyes glanced around. The high school apparently held their musical performances at the same place as the middle school. Rosalina's, a dinner theater that seemed way too fancy for a simple school music concert.

"Karin," it was Kimi's mom's voice that got her attention this time, as Kimi and her family were sitting at the table next to her family's. She was motioning for Karin to come over. "I want to get your and Kimi's picture together."

"Mom," Kimi started, her tone showed annoyance. "We've already taken like a hundred pictures-"

"Not of you and Karin together," her mother interrupted, motioning for both girls to get up and come over. "Let's go."

The words received sighs from Karin and Kimi, but neither girl disagreed further. They got up and stood closer to one another to get their picture taken by Kimi's mom. Almost as soon as the two got together, it seemed to cause all the woman in both their families to flock over to take pictures as well. It only lasted another minute, before Karin and Kimi were both clearly over it.

"Enough!" Kimi exclaimed, rubbing her temples as she turned away to sit back down.

"I know, I feel like I'm going to go blind if there is one more flash," Karin agreed, blinking several times, as she had moved over to her own seat. She paused by her chair, and raised an eyebrow as her eyes finally focused towards the entrance of the large theater. She smiled at the familiar white hair and turquoise eyes. "Toshiro."

Almost as if he heard her say his name from across the theater, Toshiro started her way. Once in front of her, they kissed, and he hugged her. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you," Karin spoke softly, as warmness spread across her cheeks. "I didn't think you were going to make it."

"Honestly, I didn't know for sure that I would. I made Orihime promise not to say anything." Toshiro replied, breaking apart from their hug, to look her in the eye.

"Well, she did good, because I had no idea," Karin said, as they kissed again. "I have to go warm up."

"Go ahead," Toshiro said, moving to sit in the spare seat at the table with her family. "Too bad Zorro's not here to make the song better."

Karin laughed at that, noticing that her family was confused. "It's an inside joke."

 **A couple of hours later**

"Thank you so much." Karin said, her cheeks slightly red, as she offered a smile to Daitaro Koboyashi. The very same man who gave her an opportunity to perform with some of his company, and turned her onto the music program last year. As soon as he had walked away, she released a breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding.

"So how did it go?"

Hearing Toshiro's voice, Karin smiled as she turned around to have Toshiro's arms wrapping around her. "Apparently it was good enough to invite me to perform with his company again, this time he wants me to come for a few performances. He also said he had already pulled aside my application for the music program, and basically gave me my acceptance into the program early."

Toshiro kissed her, smiling warmly as they broke apart. "See? You were worrying for no reason."

"It was hard not to worry," Karin said, closing her eyes and sighing. "I had so much fun last year at the music program, and I didn't want to mess up my chance in going again."

"I guess it's a good thing you know you're going to be accepted already then," Toshiro said, kissing her once more, before they stepped apart. His hand sliding down her arm to hold her hand. "Want to step outside?"

"Yeah, that'd be great. I feel like there are too many people in here," Karin agreed, as she and Toshiro exited the crowded theater. Once out there, she paused to put on her cardigan over her dress. "It may be colder out here, but I would prefer this over being surrounded by people any day."

"Same here," Toshiro agreed, moving down the sidewalk with Karin to go sit on a bench. "So it's been a few days… What did I miss?"

"Well, my last soccer game happened. We won and we also were the first in our division, so that was really nice," Karin said, her mind slowly focusing on what she knew Toshiro really wanted to know about. "I was successful in my trip to the library. I got the book, and I've started reading it over the past couple days."

"And?"

"It's weird. It didn't have a traditional title for the book. The only thing that was in the front of the book was a symbol," Karin paused, noticing Toshiro's raised eyebrow. "It was the Somi symbol. The same one that's tattooed on my shoulder."

"What was that book doing in a normal human library?"

"I don't know, but I mean it was in the restricted section, so it's not like everyday humans had access to it," Karin pointed out, and proceeded to continue on. "Anyway, it was weird though, because the symbol had an addition ring around it and an arrow through it. From what I read in the book so far, that still hasn't been explained in what I've read. Honestly… it kind of just seems like a traditional story type book. It has mentioned people—like characters—in the book, and it's like I'm reading their story. I think it's just a typical fiction book."

"Why would you have been dreaming about a book that's a made up story?" Toshiro asked, noticing she had shrugged. "Well, maybe there's something your missing."

Karin seemed to lighten up at that. "Yeah, I mean I'm only a few chapters in. It's a pretty big book… It's mentioned shinigami a couple times, and a few other concepts that I'm not too sure about. So it's at least written by someone who has knowledge of this world."

A group of people walked past them, as more people started leaving the theater. Toshiro cleared his throat once they were able to talk again. "So, you have about a month of school left, then you'll be back off to the music program."

"I know, I'm so excited," Karin said, noticing Toshiro's slight frown. "What?"

"I don't want to disappoint you, but I don't think I'll be able to take the time off again like I did last year," Toshiro said, his hand going to take hers. "I might be able to come for your birthday, but I can't guarantee that I will-"

"It's okay," Karin interrupted, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "Last time was really nice and all, but I understand you have other responsibilities. As much as I would love to have you with me the whole time I'm gone, it'll be okay."

Their eyes met, and Toshiro caressed her cheek. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah of course," Karin said, then she laughed. "We'll just talk on the phone and text each other whenever we can. When you are in the Soul Society, I'll just make sure that I keep track of anything that important happens, and I'll tell you once you come back. Then you have to do the same for me."

Smiling, Toshiro nudged her chin upward with his finger, and kissed her gently. "I'll make sure I will."

They kissed again, and when they broke apart, they noticed Karin's family coming out of the theater finally. Karin stood up, and kept Toshiro's hands in hers. "Come on. Let's meet up with my family, and figure out where we are going to dinner."

 **A few days later, April 20th**

"Happy birthday Hinata!" Yuzu and her friends cheered to Hinata, as they clinked their beers together then took a drink.

"This is the perfect 16th birthday," Hinata said, as she and Yuzu broke away from the others. "All of my friends and none of my family. I don't think this could be any more perfect."

"We haven't gone tubing yet." Yuzu pointed out, as they both grabbed tubes to take them down the river. They were in a small town about an hour Northeast of Karakura Town, and it was in the middle of a forest. It was a spot called "The River" that was technically a small waterfall that poured into a pall. The river that ran through it would take people tubing down South towards the town.

"Okay, I take it back," Hinata said, once they finally got into the tubes and the flow of water from the waterfall started them down the river. "Now this is this is what makes my birthday perfect."

"It is nice to finally have a full day dedicated to relaxing," Yuzu said, leaning her head back against the float, and looking up at the blue sky past some of the trees branches that hung over the water as they went down the river. "The first few days of Spring Break was basically me working every day."

"And spending almost every night with Taro," Hinata added, smirking at Yuzu. "Of course not actually sleeping in the same bed of course, but I mean if you were, we all know there wouldn't be much sleeping going on."

"Hinata!" Yuzu exclaimed, but they both laughed. When their laughter settled down, she sighed. "I have also been spending time with Taro when we both were off work. Since his parents have to work still even with it being Spring Break, his house has been empty most of the day. Which is the perfect time for some privacy."

Hinata smirked. "More like the perfect time to jump his bones as loudly as you want."

Yuzu nearly choked on the beer she was trying to drink, and she laughed. "Okay, you have sex on your mind."

"You're not wrong. The only problem is my boyfriend won't be out of work for another two hours. So I will just have to suffer until then," Hinata said, sighing heavily as they floated in silence for a moment. "Here's a thought… Hasn't your house been available all week? Your dad works all the time too."

"Hana comes over a lot, and I feel like between my dad and Hana, one or both of them is usually at the house."

"What is your sister up to? She keeps posting pictures of the beach on Instagram."

"She and her best friend Kimi met up with a couple of their friends from the music program they went to last year, and they went to the beach together with Kimi's parents," Yuzu explained, waving a hand. "So I guess with her gone, I might have a little bit of an opportunity to have the house to myself at some point in the next few days."

Hinata laughed. "Good luck with that. I'll be spending the next few days car shopping. You should come with me, because I have no idea what type of car I want."

"Sure. I don't have work tomorrow, and I needed something to do since Taro is going to be busy-"

"Wow, I feel like such a second choice right now." Hinata interrupted dramatically.

"I'm all yours today and tomorrow," Yuzu said, smirking at Hinata's over-dramatic expressions. "Taro is going to be _so_ jealous of you, and you should feel pretty good about that."

"Oh, I do." Hinata replied, they both shared a smirk.

"Hey!" A voice of an older adult caught their attention from over by the edge of the river. "Are you two old enough to be drinking?!"

Yuzu glanced down at the beer in her hand, then she held up a hand to her ear. "I'm sorry, I can't hear you!"

That had them both laughing as they continued floating down the river. Hinata reached over to clink her beer against Yuzu's. "You are my favorite person today."

"Glad to be of service," Yuzu said, grinning at her friend, before they took a drink of their beers. "Happy birthday Hinata."

* * *

 **A/N: I know this has been happening over the course of the story, but I wanted to bring attention to Karin's break in to the library. The progression of her dream, and the finding of the book seems to still not be getting Karin anywhere. What possible reason do you think Karin has been dreaming about that book? Also, Yuzu is out here having fun, and having no regrets. What was your favorite scene this chapter?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**


	25. Studying For Finals

_Review:_

" _Hey!" A voice of an older adult caught their attention from over by the edge of the river. "Are you two old enough to be drinking?!"_

 _Yuzu glanced down at the beer in her hand, then she held up a hand to her ear. "I'm sorry, I can't hear you!"_

 _That had them both laughing as they continued floating down the river. Hinata reached over to clink her beer against Yuzu's. "You are my favorite person today."_

" _Glad to be of service," Yuzu said, grinning at her friend, before they took a drink of their beers. "Happy birthday Hinata."_

* * *

 **A Month Later, May 23rd**

Grabbing her water, Karin took a few sips to try and cool down after her spar with Kimi. Plopping down by her bag, she grabbed her phone and checked for any new messages. They were in one of the training spaces in the Somi tower, and it had a similar layout to the one in Urahara's. It was just around four o'clock, as they had been there since they got out of school after sixth period a couple of hours ago.

"Have you noticed something strange about them?" Kimi asked, joining Karin on the ground.

"Noticed about who?" Karin asked, her eyes down on her phone as she texted Toshiro back, who had been asking her when she was getting out of training.

Kimi nudged Karin to get her to look away from her phone, then she pointed over to the stairs. "Them. They've been whispering to each other our whole session."

Focusing in on Akira and Mizuki, Karin studied how they both did seemed to be more distracted, and less open with them. "I don't know. Maybe they have other things going on. We don't know everything about their lives."

"That's the thing," Kimi said, her eyes sliding over to Karin. "I think they are talking about us. I've seen them motioning over to us, or like when they look at us it's like they all of a sudden stop talking. It's weird, and I think it means something."

"Did we do something?" Karin asked, propping her head on her hand. "I mean we did go on our first real official assignment last weekend. They said we did good, but maybe we didn't."

Kimi shrugged, as she let herself relax finally. "I don't think so. I thought we did exactly as we were asked… I think it has to do with something else."

"We can't really know for sure-" Karin broke off when Akira and Mizuki both had looked in their direction, and she and Kimi averted their eyes.

"Um hello?!" Akira called over, motioning to the open training space. "Did we say you two could take an hour-long break?! No!"

"We've got about another a couple more hours before we have to call it a day," Mizuki added, also motioning to the training ground. "Get out there, and make use of it!"

Grumbling under their breaths, Karin and Kimi took one last sip of water, then started back out to the training ground. As soon as they were out of ear shot again, Kimi's eyes met Karin's. "Something's going on."

"Maybe," Karin said, still a little skeptical. "But if they have an issue with us, it's not a big deal. School ends on Friday for the semester, then we are going off to the music program. That'll give them a whole twenty-five days without us to get over whatever issue they have."

"I hope you're right." Kimi added, before she and Karin went their separate ways to prepare to spar again.

Once on her respective side of the training ground, Karin glanced in the direction of Akira and Mizuki again. _Kimi might just be overreacting… But maybe there is something they aren't telling us. Maybe it's because they know we don't need extra stress on top of the final exams we'll be taking in a couple of days… Or it could have nothing to do with us at all. I don't-_

"Start!" Akira shouted over, interrupting Karin's thoughts.

Sensing Kimi summoning her powers, Karin did the same. Leaving her thoughts behind, she started in Kimi's direction, a katana forming in her hand.

 **At the Kurosaki house**

"Taro stop." Yuzu laughed, trying to focus down on her textbook, where she was trying to get information for her flashcards from.

"I'm not doing anything." Taro replied, his arms having slipped around her, as he had been giving her soft kisses all over every once in a while.

They were up in Yuzu's bedroom, as Isshin wasn't home to say anything against it. They were supposed to be studying for final exams, but only Yuzu had managed to open her textbooks. Taro was a little preoccupied with other things.

They barely lasted another minute, before Yuzu sighed and set her pencil down. "Taro, I have to study. I need to get an 'A' on this test to make sure I get a 'B' in the class. My dad's been on my case about my grades lately."

"I hear you," Taro said, however, his attention remained on giving her soft butterfly kisses down her neck, after pushing her hair out of the way. "I won't bother you, promise."

Smiling at his words, Yuzu's eyes went back to the textbook. The words slowly started to blur together, as her mind went blank. The feel of the shirt she was wearing, being slowly slid out of the way, and Taro's kisses continued down her now revealed shoulder. It was almost becoming intoxicating, as her skin felt like it was on fire at each place he kissed. "I can't focus when you're doing that."

"Maybe you should take a break then," Taro told her, stopping in his kisses, as he rested his head on her shoulder. "It seems like you could use a break. I'm okay with not studying."

"If I keep taking breaks, then I really won't be getting much studying done," Yuzu pointed out, as she sighed. "I need to make sure that I get all my grades up, or else my dad won't let me go to the art program."

"Alright, well I guess I can try to do something else," Taro said, kissing her one last time on her shoulder. "I wouldn't want to distract you that much."

When Taro started moving his arms from around her, Yuzu felt a strong protesting feeling inside of her, and she found herself sighing heavily. Moving her textbook and flashcards over to her bedside table, she turned and settled herself over Taro's lap.

At her new position, Taro's lopsided grin appeared on his face, and his hands returned to her waist. "Hello."

"We can take a short break. But once we do that, we really need to get started studying, okay? At least for a couple of hours, then we can watch a movie or something."

"I can get on board with that plan," Taro said, moving her closer so he could kiss her. When their kiss broke, they remained close to each other. "I have a few ideas on how we can spend this break of ours. My favorite idea goes hand in hand with the fact that we're the only ones in the house right now."

"I figured." Yuzu replied, as they kissed again. After a few minutes, they broke apart again to catch their breath, and she slid her sweater off. A smile on her face, as Taro had nudged her, so she was laying on her back before kissing her again.

 **A couple of hours later**

"Thanks for the ride!" Karin called over to Akira, as she started on the sidewalk to the front door of the house. _Kimi and I never did find out if Akira and Mizuki were talking about us. They seemed pretty normal the rest of training, so it was probably just in our imaginations._ She slipped her bag back off her shoulders, as she walked in the house. Her eyes going to Yuzu and Taro, who were snuggled up on the couch. "Hey."

"Hey." Taro greeted back, handing Yuzu the remote that she was reaching for.

Once the remote was in her hand, Yuzu paused the TV. "We just started watching a movie. You're welcome to watch it with us if you want to."

"I'm good. I have some studying to do." Karin replied, kicking off her shoes.

Yuzu raised an eyebrow, after checking the time on her phone. "It's already the evening time. Why study now?"

"Okay," Taro said, before Yuzu could say anything. "Remember that just a little while ago, you were the one who was saying we needed to study."

Yuzu smirked in Taro's direction. "Well, we didn't get much studying done did we?"

"Gross," Karin said, rolling her eyes at what Yuzu had implied. "I don't want to have heard that."

"Karin." Yuzu countered with a sigh.

"Anyway, I have planned to study for this evening, because I was busy earlier," Karin said, grabbing her shoes from the floor, and she started towards the stairs. "I want to be prepared for the exams on Thursday and Friday, and that way I won't be overly stressed about them. They are our final exams. They are pretty important."

"My take is to enjoy the evenings so my entire day isn't stress filled." Yuzu said, having to dodge Taro, who had poked her side.

"Um that was my idea," Taro said, his eyes going to Karin. "Credit belongs to me, not to Yuzu."

While that made Yuzu laugh, Karin offered a smirk, as she started up the stairs. "Well, good luck with that strategy."

It took her nearly thirty minutes to go through her usual routine of showering, then grabbing dinner that her dad and Hana had brought home. Now she was on her bed, surrounded by several open textbooks, notes from class, and flashcards. She had managed to stay focused on her notes for the past half hour, but her mind started to wander. As usual, whenever she was in her room for longer periods of time, she would slowly find herself focusing on the book that was in her desk drawer. It almost seemed like it was calling to her, and even though she tried to ignore it, she usually ended up giving in and reading some of it.

Naturally, it was the same this time, as she found herself holding the big book. Turning to the page she had bookmarked, she leaned back against her pillows, and started to read. In what seemed like a blink of an eye, she heard a knocking on her door. "Yeah?"

The door opened to reveal her dad. "Just wanted to say goodnight. You might want to think about going to sleep yourself. You have school in the morning."

"It's only… eleven thirty," Karin said, her eyes widening when she realized nearly three hours had gone by. "Wow, I lost track of time."

"What are you reading?" Isshin asked.

Karin hurriedly closed the book over her hand. "It's just a book for my literature class. I thought I'd just read a chapter or two, but I guess I got sucked into the story."

"It happens to the best of us," Isshin said with a chuckle. "Alright, don't stay up too late. Goodnight."

"Night dad!" Karin called as he was in the process of closing her door back. Opening the book back up to the page she was on, and started reading again. A few pages later, and she found herself at the end. _It's a book on a family line of Somi's. This particular line seems to work along shinigami and quincy people a lot. I mean, it was a great read and all, but I just don't see why my subconscious was practically demanding I read this book… Maybe I just need to read it again._

A yawn escaped her mouth, and that's what motivated her to put the book away. Starting the process of putting away all of her study materials, she smiled at the sight of Zorro already curled up at his usual spot on the top of her pillows. As she finished clearing off her bed, she got under the covers, as she got a text from Toshiro.

 _Toshiro: Hey baby, I finished up some paperwork, and haven't heard from you in a few hours. I just wanted to tell you goodnight._

Smiling at that, Karin was quick to text him back. _Sorry, I lost track of time reading and studying._ _I am about to go to bed actually. Goodnight, I love you._

 _Toshiro: I love you too._

Feeling a fluttering warm feeling in her chest, Karin's smile widened as she plugged her phone in, and turned off her light. Laying down on her pillows, she reached up to pet Zorro, who had stirred when she moved the pillow he was on. She closed her eyes, and willed sleep to come her way.

 **The next day, Wednesday**

Grabbing her notebooks from her locker, Yuzu put them in her bag, and grunted at the added weight as she put the straps on her shoulders. Her eyes left her locker to meet Hinata, who had walked over. "Is it just me or do you all of a sudden feel super unprepared for all the exams we are going to have the next two days?"

"It's not just you," Hinata said, leaning against the locker next to Yuzu's. "We are going to have to do some major studying, as soon as we get to your house."

"Yuzu," Taro's voice had caught their ears, as Taro had come down the steps. Walking right over to Yuzu, he kissed her. "I was hoping I'd catch you."

"What are you doing here? Don't you usually leave after sixth period. Work-based learning and all that?" Yuzu countered, although she accepted his arm that wrapped around her.

"Well we had to stay for seventh period today, because we had one last meeting with the supervisors who look over the work-based learning students," Taro explained, a growing smile on his face as their eyes met. "Since I'm here, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out. I don't have to work."

Hinata cleared her throat before Yuzu could respond, and Yuzu sighed heavily. "Unfortunately I am going to have to pass. I've already committed to having a study group with my friends, because none of us really have studied much. The exams start tomorrow after all."

"That's cool," Taro said, dipping his head down to kiss her again. "It's important you get that studying in. Just make sure you set aside time to facetime me later."

"Will do," Yuzu said, smiling as they kissed again, then Taro walked away. Her eyes went to Hinata, who held a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "What?"

"You were going to agree to go out with him instead of study-"

"I was not," Yuzu interrupted, then she sighed and smiled. "Maybe I was, but I didn't!"

Hinata laughed at Yuzu's insistence, and her eyes went to Yukio who had walked over. They kissed before the three of them started towards the front doors of the school. "So are we ready to go?"

Yukio nodded, and took Hinata's hand. "We're going over to Yuzu's to study right?"

"Yeah," Yuzu replied before Hinata could. "Shin texted me. He and Suki are waiting outside."

"Great, we'll take my car." Hinata said, happily holding up her car keys.

 **At the Kurosaki house**

Having settled down at the kitchen table with her friends, Yuzu's eyes darted all over the notebooks and textbooks on the table. Unsure of where to begin.

"Okay, just throwing this out there," Hinata started, as she motioned to the growing pile of their stuff. "There is so much stuff we have to go over, and right now it's just looking like a train wreck."

"I know. I'm usually organized… Maybe I should have taken more time this week to prepare," Yuzu said, her attention went towards the front of the steps, as there were several footsteps and voices heard from outside. The front door opened, and in came Karin and her large study group. An idea popped into Yuzu's head, as she turned to meet Hinata's eyes. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think it's our best shot." Hinata replied with a nod.

Getting up from the table, Yuzu walked over to where Karin and her study group was settling in the living room. Her eyes on her sister. "Karin, we were wondering if you'd mind if we joined your study group. We could really use the extra help."

Without hesitation, Karin nodded. "Yeah sure. Guys let's make some more room."

As Karin and a couple of her friends pushed one of the couches a little farther back to make more room on the floor, Yuzu and her friends joined them. Yuzu looking around at how Karin's study group friends seemed to already have an idea of what they were doing.

"Okay," Karin started, as she was the last to sit down. Her eyes sweeping over the others. "Usually we go through our academic classes first, and elective classes are last since we all don't have the same electives. When it gets around time for electives, we usually will split up into smaller groups for those."

"We go through study guides first," Kimi added, as she was pulling the last of her stuff out of her bag. "Then we go more in depth with questions, and if people have honors classes versus regular classes, then we'll go through that material as well. Usually, the material crosses over, but honors classes are more in depth."

Sharing a look with her friends, Yuzu nodded. "Okay, that seems like a good system. Let's do this." With that said, Karin started them off pulling out the history study guide. She watched the others follow suit, and she couldn't help but hold a small smile. _I never once thought I'd be going to my sister for help with school, but I'm kind of glad she's so prepared. Maybe I'll pass those exams after all._

 **A couple hours later**

The front door opened, and Isshin and Hana walked in. Isshin raised an eyebrow at the sight of both Karin and Yuzu's friends studying together. "I know we talked about how you two were studying with your friends today, but I certainly didn't expect to see twenty-something teenagers when I came home from work today."

"It's not that many people." Yuzu said, waving it off.

Karin, however, eyed their friends, and she shrugged. "Well, I mean not _over_ twenty."

"Well, I think it's so nice that you all are studying together," Hana said, having taken off her coat. "You all should be really prepared for those exams."

"How about I order us all some pizza and wings for dinner?" Isshin asked, smirking at the overwhelming agreement from the teenagers, he smirked.

As Isshin had walked in the direction of the kitchen to go make the call, Yuzu's eyes were on the front door. "Oh Hana, the front door is still cracked."

"Oh yeah," Hana said, as she looked to Karin. "When we were getting on the porch, we noticed Toshiro's car pulling up. So-"

Karin stood up interrupting Hana, as she motioned to the others. "I'll be right back."

"Take your time," Kimi said, smiling big as she waved off her best friend. "The boyfriend needs your attention."

Karin smirked and rolled her eyes as that made the others laugh. She went to the front door, and just as she stepped out on the front porch, Toshiro was walking up the steps. Her smirk softened to a smile, as she closed the front door. "I didn't know you were coming by."

"Well I thought I could get a few minutes of your time," Toshiro said, smiling and closing the distance between them, and he hugged and kissed her. When they broke apart, he was smirking. "Are you having a party?"

"No, definitely not," Karin replied, laughing at the sound of the voices from inside. "Although I definitely could see why it would seem that way. Yuzu and her friends joined my study group, so there are a lot more people than usual."

"Wow, you and your sister being civil and studying together. I never thought I'd see the day," Toshiro joked, chuckling at how that made Karin roll her eyes. Clearing his throat after a moment, he sighed. "Look, I really came by because I need to tell you something. I have to go and oversee an assignment."

Karin's smile immediately dropped off her face. "How long?"

Noticing her frown, Toshiro reached up and caressed her cheek. "It could be a couple of days… or more."

"I'm leaving Saturday morning for my program-"

"I know," Toshiro interrupted, his hand sliding down her arm to take her hand. "I'm going to try to come back before you leave, but I can't make any promises."

Sighing heavily, Karin finally nodded. The disappointment clearly on her face. "Okay, just call or text me whenever you get back, and we can facetime or something."

Toshiro's frown deepened at the disappointment on her face, and he pulled her close to her hug her. "I'll be sure to do that as soon as I get back."

Karin was quiet as they hugged for a moment. "It just sucks because we probably won't see each other during my music program, and I wasn't really prepared to have to say goodbye to you today."

"I know..." Toshiro trailed off, as they fell into silence as they remained into each others arms.

Nuzzling her face against Toshiro's neck, Karin breathed in his scent. "Be careful on your assignment… I love you."

"I love you too, baby." Toshiro replied, pulling back so they could kiss each other.

Feeling the usual flutter whenever Toshiro called her 'baby', Karin smiled. It started kind of out of the blue recently, but she liked it. The affectionate tone in Toshiro's voice when he said it made her feel happy inside and out. They kissed one more time, and when they broke apart, her smile softened as they let go of each other.

She watched him walk back to his car and drive away, her smile falling after he was out of sight. _This was unexpected… But I have to be okay with it, because I need to focus on studying and getting good grades on my exams._ Even as she tried to encourage herself, she felt a part of her mind remained focused on Toshiro, as she turned to go back inside.

 **Later that evening**

"That sucks that he has to leave." Kimi said, as she was sitting in the doorway of Karin's closet. Trying to get Zorro to let her pet him without him trying to attack her hand.

"You're telling me," Karin said, standing in the back of her closet, as she was picking out clothes to throw into the suitcase she was bringing with her to the music program. Their study group finished up about half an hour ago, and Kimi was planning on staying the night so they could get another hour or two of studying in before going to sleep. They were currently taking a break so Karin could get a little bit of packing done for the program. "It wouldn't have been so bad if I was expecting it, but it just came out of nowhere. We were supposed to go out to dinner on Friday and maybe see a movie or something. Then he was supposed to go with me to the airport on Saturday morning."

Kimi waved a hand after Karin sighed dramatically. "Changing the subject to something more cheerful now… How are you only using one suitcase? I've already almost filled up two suitcases, and I haven't even packed everything yet."

Karin shrugged, as she put another couple of shirts in the suitcase. "I'll probably end up using two. I'm just not trying to over-pack."

"I'll have you know that everything in my suitcases are essentials," Kimi said, grinning at Karin's raised eyebrow. "Well, almost everything is essential."

"I'm sure." Karin said, smirking at Kimi's laughter. She tossed a hair tie to the other side of the closet to get Zorro to go after it. That was the perfect opportunity for Kimi to pick Zorro up.

There was a knock on her bedroom door, before Hana appeared at the entrance of the closet. "Isshin and I are about to watch a movie, and we're going to make popcorn. I wanted to ask if you girls would like some to have when you're studying… or I guess not really studying now?"

Kimi and Karin both laughed, and Karin motioned to her suitcase. "Well we decided that we would try to get some of my packing done for Saturday, then after our short break, we are going to study."

"Ah," Hana said, her eyes landing on Karin's suitcase. "Well if you need any more suitcases, I have plenty at my apartment that you are welcome to borrow."

"She gets it," Kimi said, laughing as she pointed to Karin. "It's weird that you're only trying to pack one suitcase."

"Well, I mean it's just, you can never be too prepared." Hana said, a twinkle in her eye, as she offered Karin a smile.

"Thank you for offering," Karin said, motioning to the ceiling. "There are more suitcases in the attic if I need them though… As for the popcorn, that would be a nice snack."

"Right, well I'll go make an extra bag for you two." Hana said with a nod, and as she left, Zorro followed her out of the room.

Karin and Kimi got up, and left the closet to go sit on Karin's bed. Kimi's focus was on a book on Karin's desk. "What's that about? There's no title."

Before Kimi could reach for it, Karin hurriedly picked it up. "Oh it's nothing. Just some book I picked up in the library… Oddly enough it's about Somi's."

"Really?" Kimi asked, laying back on Karin's bed, as she pulled out her phone. "You found it in the normal human library? Not the one at the Somi tower?"

"Yeah," Karin said, slipping the book in her desk drawer, before joining Kimi on the bed again. "It was in that big library with the colorful windows. It was so strange that I came across it."

"I mean you're obviously just lucky. Either that or too obsessed with Somi stuff." Kimi added that last part, laughing as that made Karin glare at her.

"Okay, unlike you, my dad didn't tell me about any of this stuff growing up. Not that he knew I was a Somi until I did, but I mean anything spiritual. He didn't tell me until I already figured it out myself. I have tons of questions-"

"I know you do," Kimi interrupted, sighing heavily as she closed her eyes. "I feel like every time we go into the Somi tower, you are interested in everything, and we end up staying there longer than we should."

"I'm going to pretend that you're not hurting my feelings right now." Karin countered over-dramatically, as she feigned sadness.

"Don't worry, I've learned to accept you for who you are." Kimi said, patting Karin's hand, barely able to keep a serious face before they both burst out laughing.

"Okay, we really should start studying." Karin said after their laughter settled. Reaching over to grab their pile of textbooks and notes.

Kimi grabbed her stuff from off of the stack. "Maybe this would be easier after an episode of Grey's Anatomy."

"Maybe you're right," Karin agreed, both girls laughing as Karin went to pull up Netflix. "I have a feeling we're both pretty studied out at this point."

 **A few days later, Saturday morning, May 27th**

"Thanks for dropping us of guys," Yuzu said, as she hurriedly hugged everyone. Her eyes on her dad last. "Did my grades finally upload this morning?"

Isshin nodded. "Yeah, as you said, you brought your grades up to As and Bs. I am proud of you for making that happen."

Yuzu smiled and shrugged, her eyes on Karin. "Yeah, I guess not all of us could manage to get all As."

"I worked hard for those grades this school year," Karin shot back, rolling her eyes at her sister's pointed tone. "If a certain someone didn't slack off all semester, then she could have got all As too."

"Girls." Isshin quickly spoke up at how glares were now being shot back and forth between the two.

Putting her smile back on her face, Yuzu's eyes focused across the room at some of her friends, more specifically focusing on Taro. "Oh, I have to go, see you all in a few weeks!"

"Goodbye!" Isshin called after her, chuckling at her obvious reason for leaving them so quickly. His eyes went to Hana. "Oh how they grow up. It's like the second they get a boyfriend or girlfriend, I don't exist anymore."

Hana smiled, as she wrapped an arm loosely around Isshin's. "Oh she's just a teenager in love, there's not much you can do to change that."

Ichigo scoffed at the sight. "I never acted like that when I was her age."

"You were busy disappearing for months at a time, and crushing on Orihime from a distance like a loser." Karin deadpanned.

Ichigo smirked, but glared back at Karin. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Okay," Isshin said, waving a hand to keep Karin from saying anything back to Ichigo. "We're not going to part ways with you two yelling at each other. That wouldn't be pleasant for anyone."

Karin just sighed, and handed Mina back over to Orihime, after having been holding her since they got out of the car. "Send me pictures of her everyday. If I miss any of her cute moments, then I might die."

Orihime laughed, as she adjusted Mina in her arms. "I'll be sure to do that."

"And I'll be sure to send photos of Zorro, so you also don't miss any cute moments of him." Hana added.

"That's all I ask," Karin said, sighing again, as she adjusted the straps of her carry on bag. "I guess I better get going."

"You don't seem that enthusiastic." Orihime noted, having noticed the obvious difference between Yuzu and Karin's attitudes.

"Are you feeling okay?" Hana asked, out of habit bringing her hand to Karin's forehead.

"I just didn't sleep much last night," Karin said, yawning as she hugged everyone one last time. "Anyway, like I said, I need to get going. It can take forever to get through security sometimes."

"Hopefully it won't be too bad," Isshin said, giving her a wave, before she had turned to go."It is pretty early, so maybe there won't be many others."

"Let's cross our fingers." Karin replied, before she started to walk away.

"Karin!"

The sound of Toshiro's voice hit her ears, and Karin turned to see him jogging over. Meeting him the rest of the way, she threw her arms around him, and she laughed happily. "I thought you weren't going to make it."

"Well, I all but had to race here, but I made it," Toshiro said, his hands slipped up to cradle her face, as they kissed. When their kiss broke, he smiled. "Have fun."

"I will," Karin said, as they hugged one last time. Now that they were so close, she smiled. "I love you."

"I love you too," Toshiro murmured in her ear, before they finally broke their hug. "Try to focus more on music this time since I'm not going to be there to distract you."

"Ha ha." Karin shot back, childishly sticking out her tongue in his direction, before she smirked and started walking.

"Oh wait," Toshiro said, his eyes going to Karin who was almost across the room by that point. "What did you end up getting on your report card?!"

Karin turned and walked backwards, as she smiled at him. "I got all As!"

"I knew you would!" Toshiro countered, smiling as he watched Karin walk away.

After Karin was out of sight, Orihime immediately turned to Toshiro. "You came all the way here just for a minute to say goodbye to her. That is so cute."

Toshiro shook his head, and tried to avoid Orihime's eyes. Fighting with keeping the smirk off his face seemed to be pointless. "Don't start."

Orihime still kept her smile on her face, as she waved a hand. "I'm just saying."

 **On the plane**

After sliding her bag under her seat, Karin sat down in her seat, and couldn't keep the smile off her face. Something that was noticeable to the others.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Yuzu asked, an eyebrow raised at how just before, her sister had what seemed like a permanent frown on her face, and now she seemed to have done had a full attitude shift.

"Toshiro showed up last minute," Karin said, fighting the urge to squeal with how much happiness she had. "He had to practically race across town, but he made it just in time."

"No wonder why you're such in a good mood now," Yuzu said, their eyes going forward as the last of the passengers were seated on the plane. Looking around them at some of the recognizable people from each of their programs. "It's so wild to think we're doing this for the second year in a row."

"I know," Karin agreed, her eyes focusing out the window. Other planes in the distance, and the morning sunrise that seemed to remind her how early it was. "The program changed our lives so much last year. I wonder how it's going to change us this year."

"Hopefully we'll be changing for the better." Yuzu said, turning in her seat to look a few rows back where Taro was seated next to Jax, and she smiled when they made eye contact.

Noticing Yuzu was distracted, Karin's mind floated down to where her carry on bag was. Leaning over, she pulled the bag out, and opened it. Staring at the book in her bag for a long moment, she had to put the bag back when the flight attendant got their attention for the safety video. Despite trying to pay attention, her mind wandered, as her eyes went back to the window. _I have a feeling things are going to change this Summer, but like you said Yuzu. Hopefully, it's for the better._

* * *

 **A/N: Karin and this book… I wonder what will come of it. What was your favorite scene this chapter?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

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	26. Life Changing Events

_Review:_

" _I know," Karin agreed, her eyes focusing out the window. Other planes in the distance, and the morning sunrise that seemed to remind her how early it was. "The program changed our lives so much last year. I wonder how it's going to change us this year."_

" _Hopefully we'll be changing for the better." Yuzu said, turning in her seat to look a few rows back where Taro was seated next to Jax, and she smiled when they made eye contact._

 _Noticing Yuzu was distracted, Karin's mind floated down to where her carry on bag was. Leaning over, she pulled the bag out, and opened it. Staring at the book in her bag for a long moment, she had to put the bag back when the flight attendant got their attention for the safety video. Despite trying to pay attention, her mind wandered, as her eyes went back to the window. I have a feeling things are going to change this Summer, but like you said Yuzu. Hopefully, it's for the better._

* * *

 **Almost four weeks later, June 20th**

"This has been the best Summer!" Yuzu exclaimed, laughing happily as she and Karin grabbed their suitcases from the belt, and started walking towards the front of the airport. "Taro and I got to spend almost the whole program together, and it has been-"

"The best Summer," Karin interrupted, a smirk on her face. "We have two whole months of Summer left, so you might not want to declare that yet, because that leaves a lot of time for things to go wrong. That seems to happen a lot in our family."

Yuzu laughed along with Karin. "Okay, it was the best to start to my Summer then. What about you? Did Toshiro make it out for your birthday party? I didn't see him in any of the photos you posted on Instagram."

Sighing heavily, Karin's eyes fell to the stairs they were walking down. "Unfortunately he didn't get to make it for my birthday- our birthday. You know what I mean."

"I know," Yuzu nodded in understanding. "But at least you two got to text and call each other the whole time you were gone though, right?"

"Yeah, except for a few days when he was in the Soul Society or on assignment," Karin said, focusing back forward, as they got off the stairs. "I haven't seen him in twenty-five days in person, and I miss him so much."

Yuzu's eyes had moved to the windows that looked out onto one of the parking decks, then she grinned at Karin. "Not to change the subject, but isn't it kind of surreal finally being sixteen?"

Accepting the change of subject, Karin shrugged. "I mean I guess. It just kind of felt like another birthday to me."

"But you're going to get your license soon."

"That's true- Oh look there is dad and Hana!" Karin exclaimed, pointing across the big hall they had walked in, and they both ran over to hug and greet them.

"We've missed having you two around." Isshin said, as they started towards the exit.

"How were your programs?" Hana barely got out before there was like an explosion of both girls recounting every little detail that happened while they were gone.

"Okay," Isshin said once they were outside. "Let's slow down, and tell us the highlights. We can replay the detail for detail stuff when we get back to the house."

Taking the opportunity, Yuzu started on recounting some of her favorite moments on the trip, as they started through the parking lot. Karin, on the other hand, fell a few steps behind the others, as her eyes were focused up on the sky. One thing particular on her mind. _I think the most important thing that happened to me over the past twenty-five days I don't know if I should tell them about._

"Karin!"

The sound of Hana's voice caught her ears, and she had to blink a few times to realize she had gotten severely behind the others, who were already at the car. "Sorry, I got distracted!" She called to them, picking up her pace a bit, and pushing her thoughts away. Once by the car, she took her hand off her suitcase, as her dad picked it up to put it in the car.

"What about you Karin?" Isshin asked, as he shut the trunk of the car. "Got any major highlights?"

"Of course, of course." Karin replied, offering a smile as they got in the car. "Let's see..."

 **A** **t the Kurosaki House**

As soon as they walked into the house, Karin's eyes met Toshiro's, and they lit up as she dropped her bag and ran right over to him. With his arms wrapped around her, they kissed, and she smiled as soon as they broke apart. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Toshiro said, one of his hands moving up to push her hair back. "I'm sorry I couldn't make it to New Luna for your birthday."

"No don't worry about it. I already knew it'd be unlikely you'd be able to come to visit me at all during my music program this year, and I'm just happy that we're able to see each other now," Karin said, noticing that didn't move the doubtful look in Toshiro's eyes, she kissed him again. "It's really okay. I get to see you now, and my family is having a birthday party for Yuzu and I tomorrow, so it'll make up for it."

"Okay Karin," Isshin said, as he, Hana, and Yuzu came inside. He picked up Karin's bag and put her suitcase to the side. "The middle of the living room is not where your stuff needs to be."

"I'm going to bring upstairs in a minute," Karin replied, finally breaking away from Toshiro, just as Orihime walked in from the backyard with Mina in her arms. "Hey Orihime."

"Hey," Orihime greeted, as she hugged Karin with her free arm. Her eyes focused down on Mina. "Mina, who's this?"

Karin leaned over a little to get on Mina's eye level, and she motioned to herself. "Karin."

Mina giggled in recognition of Karin, and she reached to touch Karin's face. "K."

Sighing dramatically at that, Karin smiled anyway, and tickled Mina a little. "We'll work on it," she straightened up, and made eye contact with Ichigo, who walked in from the back porch as well. "Ichigo."

"Karin."

At the one-worded greeting from Karin and Ichigo, Orihime rolled her eyes. "Oh, the sibling love is so real."

"So real." Toshiro agreed, smirking at how that received annoyed glances from both Karin and Ichigo.

"Okay, new topic," Karin said, clapping her hands together, as she focused on her dad. "My driver's license."

"Don't you have another week or two before you can get it?" Isshin asked.

"Yes, but I just want to be on the same page that I would like to get it as soon as possible- Zorro!" Karin exclaimed at the sight of her cute black cat appearing from behind the TV. She had to move quickly in order to pick him up before he could run off down the hall.

"I would run away too." Yuzu said to Zorro, chuckling at how that made Karin glare at her.

"So Yuzu," Orihime said, as she had to adjust Mina in her arms when she started to wiggle around. "That photo you posted of your final project was amazing. I wish you could have kept the piece."

"Well, if you ever are in Moss Tree and around the art institute, you can go by and see it in person," Yuzu said, smiling with a shrug. "They bought it from me."

"Really? That's amazing." Hana complimented.

"Where are the other kids?" Isshin asked Orihime at Mina continuing to try to wiggle out of Orihime's arms.

"Outside in the pool, where I think Mina wants to be." Ichigo said, as he reached over for Mina, and once he had her in his arms, he started to the back door.

"We don't have a pool." Yuzu said, an eyebrow raised as they all followed Ichigo outside.

"Oh hey," Hikari greeted from where he was sitting at the table on the back porch with Kei. Rin and Mai were both out in the back yard by a small blow up kiddie pool that Raya, Emi, and Bingo were jumping in an out of. "Yeah, the kiddie pool was a little surprise for the kids that Isshin set up for them."

Isshin shrugged as he sat down at the table. "I can't take credit for it, because it was Hana's idea."

"Hey girls!" Mai called at the sight of Yuzu and Karin, who was the last to join them out on the porch.

At the announcement of Karin and Yuzu being there, both Raya and Emi were back out of the pool. They darted over just in time to hug Karin who had made it down the steps first. Karin laughed when their hug broke. "Now I'm all wet."

The sound of Mina fussing as Ichigo had brought her over to try the kiddie pool was heard, and Ichigo sighed. "I can't figure out what it is that she wants here."

"I just think she wants to play outside," Orihime said, as she joined Rin and Mai in the chairs that were out on the grass. "Just not in the pool."

Rin turned to focus on Karin and Yuzu after the kids went back to the pool. "So, how was your programs?"

"There's so much to talk about." Yuzu replied before immediately going into her first story.

Karin, however, turned and went back towards the door. With everyone distracted, she was able to slip inside the house by herself. After gathering her suitcase and bag, she went upstairs to her bedroom. Zorro followed closely behind her. Almost as soon as her door was open, Zorro bolted past her and jumped up on her bed. Laying at the top of her pillows in his usual spot. She set her bag down on her desk chair, and she pulled her suitcase to a stop next to it. Reaching over for Zorro, she pet him for a minute.

Looking back at the open doorway, she reached into her bag and pulled out the big dark red book. It felt normal in her hands after having spent the Summer re-reading it a couple of times. Once again looking back at the doorway, she turned back to the book and opened it to the back of the book. A folded map greeted her, with a little town circled. _It's not that far away. Seven hours by car, five hours by train, or two hours by plane._ Tracing the circle that was drawn around that town, she found herself being pulled into forest.

 _Blinking at the seemingly endless amount trees around her, Karin found herself in a clearing, and the only sound she could hear was the smooth running water in the small creek next to her. Feeling the wind on her face that just barely moved her hair, she turned in the direction it was coming from, and she found herself looking at a girl. The girl mirrored Karin's height, and she had wavy brown hair that flowed all the way down her back._

 _Opening her mouth to speak, Karin stopped when the girl suddenly turned around to face her. Her fair skin and dark grey eyes made Karin feel like she was looking in a mirror. There was a silver ring type necklace that hung from the girl's neck, and it had a small moonstone in the center of it._

 _Nothing was said between the two, as Karin and the girl stared at each other. Finally, the girl moved over to the creek, and knelt down slowly._

"Karin."

The sound of Toshiro's voice brought snapped her back to reality, and she shut the map back in the book. However, she knew he at least saw the book, and she tried to relax. "I was just going to put a thing or two away."

"You still have it?" Toshiro asked, walking over to her, as his eyes were on the book.

Karin shrugged, as if it was no big deal. "Yeah, I didn't technically check it out, so it's not like I need to return it."

"Apart from the fact that you stole it from the library and it belongs to them."

"I'll donate money to the library to make up for it."

"So you don't want to give it back?"

"It's not like they are really going to miss it that much." Karin replied hurriedly, as she moved the book into the drawer in her bedside table.

Noticing how she was a little antsy about it, Toshiro crossed his arms over his chest, as he sat down on her bed. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure yet. That's why I want to keep the book. It just seems to have brought up more questions than answers," Karin said, grabbing Zorro and moving to join Toshiro on the bed. "So, you need to catch me up on everything that happened while I was gone."

Accepting the subject change, Toshiro shrugged. "I don't really think there is much to catch you up on. You know most of it. We talked almost every day."

Karin waved a hand. "I know we did, but I mean the stuff you couldn't tell me over the phone or text me."

"Should there be things?" Toshiro asked, shaking his head after she nodded. "I think I told you everything."

Reaching over to her bag, Karin pulled out her notebook and opened it to a bookmarked page. "That's actually perfect, because I have so many things I have to tell you that I didn't get a chance to."

Raising an eyebrow at the list on the page, Toshiro smirked. "Should I cancel my plans for the next few days?"

"Haha," Karin stuck out her tongue, before she adjusted so Zorro could sit on her lap. "So, first of all you already know that we stayed in the same apartment as last time. However, this year there were these little kittens that would hang outside our building, and I almost brought one home with me but Kimi practically had to drag me away because I would be taking it away from its family. But it was so difficult not to because they were all pretty cute."

"I'm sure your father would thank Kimi for that," Toshiro interjected before Karin could continue. "I'm sure your next thought was to bring the entire family home."

"Wow that is scary how right you are," Karin grinned, motioning back to her list. "Anyway, this year Kimi and I were supposed to be in the wicked witch's class again, but we got transferred out last minute. The program said it was because the class was full, but I think it was because she remembered us from last year and didn't want to have anything to do with us. However, Kimi and I weren't disappointed, because we got into a new class with a professor who was so much nicer. Oh, and this year I had one extra class with Rose and Naomi, instead of just one class with them, because they added on another combined studies course. So we got to see each other more during the day- Oh, and do you remember how we'd go up on the roof of the apartment building all the time? This year they had thought they were going to lock the door to it, but I apparently am good at unlocking doors so it wasn't a problem. Now I think I might have a future career as someone who breaks into places."

Toshiro's laughter was what kept her from going on. "That's promising. You probably need to be able to break yourself out of jail too."

"Oh please," Karin said, waving it off. "Like I'd ever get caught."

They both laughed at that, as Hana appeared in the doorway of Karin's room. "I was wondering where you two went off too. Yuzu's been entertaining us with all of her stories from her program. You're missing out."

"I don't really think we're missing out," Karin replied, a smirk appearing on her face. "All the stories I got on the plane were all about her and her boyfriend being all over each other the whole time."

"Karin." Toshiro said, an eye twitching.

"We didn't get those stories." Hana replied, smiling at how that made Karin laugh.

"Well just get rid of my dad and Ichigo, and I'm sure she'd be more honest about it," Karin explained, laughing again, as she motioned to her notebook. "I've actually been updating Toshiro on all the life-changing events that happened to me while I was gone."

"Life-changing." Toshiro mumbled under his breath, as he tried not to laugh at how Karin glared at him.

Hana, however, laughed as she crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame. "I do that too. I went to Africa for the past week and a half, after having to cut our vacation up at the cabin a little short. I had a list about a mile long to tell Isshin when I got back."

"Wait, you went to Africa?" Karin asked, her mouth ajar.

"Yeah, I usually go every once in a while to sightsee and help out the local villages that I visit. A few of my friends were planning a last minute trip, and invited me to go with them." Hana explained.

"How did I not know this? That is so cool," Karin said, motioning to herself. "I would love to do stuff like that."

"I'd be happy to share some things with you that happened while I was on my trip. I took tons of pictures," Hana said, turning her head to look down the hall when she heard Orihime calling her name. Looking back to Karin and Toshiro, she smiled. "I'll leave you two to catch up. Just be sure to join us eventually, as I'm looking forward to hearing how your program went."

"Okay!" Karin called as Hana turned to go back downstairs. Her focus went back to her list that she had to move out from under Zorro's tail. "Back to my list- What?"

Toshiro had been smirking at Karin at caused her to question him. "Life-changing events?"

"Shut up!" Karin exclaimed, laughing along with Toshiro.

"Before we get back into the list, that I'm sure lasts about four pages," Toshiro said, reaching over for the free hand that wasn't petting Zorro. "I would just like to point out that our one year anniversary is coming up."

That brought a warm smile to Karin's face. "I know… One whole year together, and you haven't gotten sick of me yet."

"Not at all," Toshiro said, chuckling before he leaned over and kissed her. When their kiss broke, they held each other's eyes for a moment, then he motioned to her notebook. "Now back to the list of life-changing events."

 **T** **he backyard**

"See this isn't so bad," Yuzu said, adjusting so she could drip a little water on Mina's shoulder, which made her giggle. "Yeah this is fun."

"You didn't actually have to get in the pool with her Yuzu," Mai said, laughing as she was currently taking a picture. "You could have at least changed into a bathing suit first."

Yuzu shrugged. "Well, after Bingo jumped on me and shook water all over me, I was practically already soaked. So I figured what's the point of changing?"

"Well, I'm just surprised Mina's actually enjoying the pool," Orihime said, having also been taking pictures. "Because when Ichigo or I have tried to get her in there, she hates it."

"You obviously didn't try to go into the pool fully clothed then, so I guess I'm onto something," Yuzu replied with a laugh, her eyes went back to the porch when Hinata appeared. "That didn't take long."

"Hey Hinata," Isshin greeted from where he was sitting at the table with Hana. "It's nice to see you again."

"It's nice to see you too," Hinata replied politely, before her eyes went to Yuzu. "Why?"

Yuzu motioned to Bingo with her free hand. "He jumped on me right after getting out of the pool, so I figured why bother changing when I'm already wet… So how was your house?"

"Empty," Hinata replied, propping her elbows on the railing on the porch. "My parents and little sister left to go to the islands a few days ago. I just went home to wash some of my clothes from the program, and grab some new ones."

"Oh yeah," Yuzu said at the sight of the bag Hinata had with her. Her eyes went to her dad. "Dad, is it okay if Hinata stays over for a few days? Her family is going to be gone for the rest of the Summer."

"Sure." Isshin agreed.

"Hinata," Hana started, an eyebrow raised. "Are your parents going to leave you at home alone all Summer?"

"Well they told me that I could go over and stay with my older sister and husband if I wanted to," Hinata said, then she laughed. "As if I am going to voluntarily spend time with them."

That made Yuzu and Hinata both laugh, as Yuzu finally got out of the pool. She handed her over to Orihime, who was ready with a towel. "I think that is enough pool time for me today. It looks like the kids are ready to get back in anyways, and I'm sure Bingo won't be far behind."

"Well, I'm going to go ahead and start on food, so you two make sure to come down and get something to eat." Isshin said to Yuzu and Hinata, as Yuzu came onto the porch.

"Will do." Yuzu said, accepting a towel from Rin, who had gotten quickly distracted by Raya and Emi going back to the pool. She nudged Hinata's shoulder, and the two walked inside. They had just got upstairs when they could hear the voices of Karin and Toshiro.

"Hey Yuzu."

Yuzu and Hinata stopped in Karin's doorway. "What?"

"Did you fall in?" Karin asked, an eyebrow raised and a smirk on her face at the sight of Yuzu.

Yuzu shrugged. "I mean Bingo jumped on me, then at that point I figured I was basically already soaked. Might as well get in the pool and see if I can get Mina to enjoy it."

Karin chuckled, as she had picked up Zorro. "Well it worked didn't it?"

"It did," Yuzu said, smiling as she and Hinata kept on down the hall. After turning onto the small hall her bedroom and bathroom were on, she opened the door to her room and sighed. "Home sweet home… I guess."

"I know right," Hinata said, as she and Yuzu walked in the room. She set her bag down next to where Yuzu stopped her suitcase. "My house was so quiet and depressing. That's why as soon as I had some of my clothes washed, I came right over here."

Yuzu grabbed some clothes to change into, and raised an eyebrow in Hinata's direction. "I thought you and Yukio were going to sleep at your house tonight since your parents aren't there."

"That was the plan," Hinata said, sitting down on the bed. "But unlike my parents, his parents are at home and want to spend time with them."

"Hinata, your parents want to spend time with you. They just went on a trip. Why don't you just take a flight out to them?"

"I don't want to spend the whole Summer with them."

"Then I don't understand why you keep bringing it up-"

"I mean," Hinata interrupted, as she waved her hand. "Of course I would love to spend the entire Summer at the beach with them. However, I would end up having to spend time with them or my little sister the whole time. At least this way, I get to have alone time."

Sighing at her explanation, Yuzu offered a smile. "Well, we can try to go to the beach near here sometime next week. Maybe that'll make up for it."

"Sounds good to me," Hinata agreed, grabbing her phone out of her pocket. "Hurry up and change, then we can go snack on food until dinner is ready."

 **Later that evening**

Remaining on the porch until Toshiro drove away, Karin went back inside the house and went straight upstairs. The attic ladder was pulled down, as she and Yuzu were supposed to be putting their suitcases back up there. Grabbing her suitcase from her room, she started up the attic ladder, and sneezed once she was up there. _I need to get in and get out._

However, after setting her suitcase down, she didn't leave just yet. Maneuvering past some boxes, she found a set of boxes that hadn't been touched in years. _Mom's things…_ Taking a deep breath, she opened a few boxes, and searched through them the best she could. Most of the boxes were old books and photo albums, but there were a few that held clothing. Shuffling through the clothing, she finally came across a small jewelry box that caught her attention. Flipping open the lid, her heart started to race at the necklace that stood out to her. It had a silver ring, with a small moonstone in the center of it.

"Karin?"

Her dad's voice made her jump a little, and she quickly pocketed the necklace. Closing the jewelry box, she put it back under the clothes it had been hiding under in the box. She crossed the attic and stood at the top of the stairs. "Yeah dad?"

"I was just wondering if you were still up there." Isshin replied from where he was looking up into the attic.

"Yeah, I was just putting my suitcase away," Karin said, turning the light off, before she climbed down the ladder. "I know you and Hana were talking about watching a movie, but I think I just want to go to bed."

"Of course," her dad agreed, as he closed the attic back up. "I'm sure you miss sleeping in your own bed."

"You have no idea," Karin said, laughing with her dad. "Uh goodnight. Tell Hana I said goodnight as well."

"Will do." Her dad replied before going downstairs.

Waiting until after her dad was downstairs, Karin returned to her room. She shut the door, and moved over to her bedside table. She opened the drawer with the book in it, and took out the book along with a folded picture. Opening it up as she pulled the necklace out of her pocket, she took a long deep breath, as the old picture of her mom showed her wearing that very necklace. _She has the same necklace that girl I've been dreaming about has…_

Opening the book now, she flipped to the page where she had the map tucked in, and brought her hand back to the circled town. She found herself being brought to the sight of that girl.

 _Karin stopped when the girl suddenly turned around to face her. Her fair skin and dark grey eyes made Karin feel like she was looking in a mirror. There was a silver ring type necklace that hung from the girl's neck, and it had a small moonstone in the center of it._

 _Nothing was said between the two, as Karin and the girl stared at each other. Finally, the girl moved over to the creek, and knelt down slowly. Stepping closer, Karin opened her mouth to speak, but the creek water started to get way. The reflection of them both grew distorted, and a loud rumbling started._

 _Seemingly not bothered by the rumbling, the girl turned her head to look at Karin, and she smiled. A hand on her necklace. "I can't wait to meet you, Karin."_

* * *

 **A/N: So Karin's mother is tied into the book and whatever it is that Karin has been dreaming about. My favorite scene to write was Karin and Toshiro talking about Karin's life-changing events that had taken place over the program. What was your favorite scene?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**


	27. Here We Go

_Review:_

 _Nothing was said between the two, as Karin and the girl stared at each other. Finally the girl moved over to the creek, and knelt down slowly. Stepping closer, Karin opened her mouth to speak, but the creek water started to get way. The reflection of them both grew distorted, and a loud rumbling started._

 _Seemingly not bothered by the rumbling, the girl turned her head to look at Karin, and she smiled. A hand on her necklace. "I can't wait to meet you, Karin."_

* * *

 **A week later, June 26th**

"Yay, happy birthday Raya!" Was chorused after the now 5-year-old Raya blew out her birthday candles. However, her focus was hardly on the cake, as she had jumped up to run after the bulldog puppy that was barking up a storm.

"I can't believe you two finally did it." Orihime said from where she was standing over by Mina, who was interested in the flowers Rin and Kei had planted by the back porch. "You finally got her a dog."

"I'm excited to have another animal around," Karin said, motioning over to the bulldog puppy that was now nose to nose with Bingo. "Mr. Franklin is going to be a fun addition to the family."

Rin was all smiles, as she was focused on cutting pieces of cake for everyone. "It was a really sweet surprise for her. We woke her up super early this morning to go to the shelter, and she bonded with Mr. Franklin right away."

"Is that actually his name?" Yuzu asked, accepting a piece of cake from Rin.

"Yes," Kei answered for Rin, as he helped her in passing out cake. "That's the name she wanted to be written down when we adopted him. The Mr. is apparently very important."

"I think it's cute." Mai said, setting Emi down to go run around after Raya.

Yuzu smiled at the kids and dogs running around, and her eyes switched over to Karin. "Remember our birthday parties growing up? Weren't they fun?"

Karin had to hold back on laughing, and settled for a smirk. "I never really liked the whole party thing. I just wanted to hang out with my friends, and you wanted our parties to be these big magnificent wonderlands."

"That's not true," Yuzu said, then she shrugged. "Okay, maybe it is a little bit true. But they were a lot of fun."

"Sure-"

"Hey," Orihime broke into the conversation, as she had picked Mina up to come over to sit beside them. "You two have been so busy over the past week since you've been back, but I wanted to show you the wedding dress I picked out when we were up at Wayhurst."

Both girls looked over to Orihime's phone, and aw'd over the beautiful dress she had picked out. Karin's focus went to her dad after a moment. "Can I just say that I am so happy you decided to buy that cabin we stayed in for the family? That is going to be so much fun. I can't wait to go back up there."

"Well, after how much you all talked about how much fun it was, it seemed like a good idea." Isshin replied, having grabbed himself and Hana a slice of cake.

"You're going to love it up there," Karin said, her attention back on Yuzu, as Mina's fussing had Orihime's attention. "There's so much to do. We definitely need to try and go up there this year."

Yuzu shrugged. "That's fine with me, I guess. However, I have to say that I would rather be on the beach by the ocean than up in the mountains."

"Hey," Ichigo said, as he and Toshiro walked out from inside the house. "Sorry we are late. Toshiro and I got back later than we thought we would- Happy birthday Raya."

"Thank you!" Raya exclaimed, giggling as she ran past them, being chased now by Bingo and Mr. Franklin.

Noticing the bulldog puppy, Toshiro raise an eyebrow, as he sat down next to Karin. "Who's dog is that?"

"That is Mr. Franklin, and he's Raya's new puppy. Rin and Kei got him for her this morning." Karin explained, before she kissed Toshiro. Happily snuggling into him, after he put his arm around her.

"Oh good," Toshiro said, showing an over-exaggerated look of relief. "I thought you went and adopted another animal. I already occasionally have to have Zorro over at my apartment, and I don't think I'm ready for another animal."

Karin laughed. "Well, you never know."

"I know and that is what scares me." Toshiro shot back, making the others laugh.

Yuzu stood up and got the others attention. "As much fun as this has been, I have to get going to work," she said, managing to get a hold of Raya to stop her real quick. "I have to go. I've had so much fun, and I hope you have a great rest of your birthday."

Raya giggled as she jumped up and down. "Okay, thank you for my painting!"

"What painting?" Toshiro whispered to Karin.

"Yuzu painted a mural on Raya's bedroom wall. She's currently really into animals. It's really cute." Karin explained, showing Toshiro some pictures from her phone.

"Do you need a ride Yuzu?" Isshin asked after Yuzu finished her goodbye to Raya.

"No thank you," Yuzu said, grabbing her bag. "Hinata's going to drive me. Also, I just want to remind you that we are sleeping over at her house tonight."

Isshin chuckled. "I remember. Make sure you two lock the doors since it'll just be the two of you in the house."

"Dad, it's not like she lives in a bad neighborhood or something." Yuzu countered, inching closer to the back door.

"That's not the point," Ichigo broke into the conversation. "You two shouldn't even be staying there if her parents aren't there."

"Okay _dad_ ," Yuzu shot back sarcastically, making Karin laugh, and she just smiled. "I didn't ask you."

"Ichigo," Isshin said, before Ichigo could reply. His focus went back to Yuzu. "Have fun. Be sure to give me a text or call when you make it to Hinata's house after you get off of work tonight."

"Will do," Yuzu said, then she walked into the house. On her way to the front door, her phone started buzzing, and she smiled as Taro's name popped up on her phone. "Hey Taro."

" _Are you working tonight?"_

"Yeah, I'm leaving to go start my shift now actually. What about you?"

" _I just arrived at work actually. I'm about to clock in. I wanted to ask if you wanted to go out to dinner after we get off work. You know, before we go to Hinata's tonight."_

"That sounds good. We haven't got to go out to dinner in a while- Speaking of going over to Hinata's though, she's actually calling me right now. I'll text you in a little bit."

" _Alright, love you."_

"I love you too," Yuzu replied, before she switched over to answer Hinata's call. "I'm walking out of the house right now."

" _Okay, I'm outside on the street, because there are like six cars in and around the driveway."_

"Yeah I've got a big family." Yuzu replied, before she got off the phone. As she walked down the sidewalk, her mind was focused on Taro again. _I'm so excited for tonight. We're going to go over to Hinata's house to spend the night, and Hinata's inviting Yukio. It's going to be so much fun._

 **That evening**

The bell ringing when the door was opened to the shop got Yuzu's attention, and she smiled at Taro walking through the door. "Hey."

"Hey," Taro greeted back, walking over and leaning over the front counter to kiss her. "When are you getting off?"

"In five minutes," Yuzu said, looking back at the door that led into the back room. She kissed him this time. "But you need to wait outside, because my boss' boss is here, and it's a whole big thing."

"Okay, I'll be outside." Taro agreed, kissing her again, before he left to go back outside.

Five minutes later, Yuzu was walking out of the boutique, and right into Taro's arms for a kiss. When they broke their kiss, Taro was smiling at her. "I've missed you."

"It's only been a few days." Yuzu reminded, smiling as he kissed her again.

"I know, but it feels like it's been longer," Taro said, kissing her once more, before moving to open the car door for her. "We were together almost every day and night for the whole program, and I miss that."

"I do too," Yuzu agreed, getting in the car, and waiting until he walked around to get in on the driver's side. "We're going to Hinata's tonight, so we'll be able to spend the night together there."

That brought a grin to Taro's face. "I know. I've been looking forward to that all day."

"Me too." Yuzu agreed with a smile.

 **At the Somi tower**

"Okay you two! Come on over!" Akira called after Mizuki told Karin and Kimi their spar was over.

"What do you think this is about?" Kimi asked, as she and Karin started the walk over to where their mentors were.

Karin shrugged. "Who knows? We were following the guidelines in our sparring, so we know that can't be it."

"Most of the guidelines." Kimi shot back right before she and Karin got to the others, making her and Karin laugh.

"Okay," Mizuki started once the two stopped laughing. "We want to go ahead and tell you two now in order to get it straightened out with your parents."

"Tell us what?" Kimi asked.

Mizuki and Akira shared a look, before Mizuki met Kimi's eyes again. "You two are going to be assigned to teams."

"Teams?" Karin asked, an eyebrow raised. "But you and Akira never were on teams."

"Technically we were," Akira said, motioning to Mizuki. "Back when we were sixteen we were assigned to a team. However, you only have to be assigned for a year, before you can elect to be more solo. But it'll be good for you two if you want to pursue more full-time somi work. Or I guess I should say part-time since you two are still in high school."

Karin grabbed her water bottle, and propped her free hand on her hip. "So when is this happening?"

"It would be the two weeks before school would start-"

"It's not going to overlap with Orihime and Ichigo's wedding right?" Karin interrupted.

"No, you'll be leaving the day right after it," Akira replied, noticing Karin's frown remained. "That means you'd have miss that soccer camp."

That made Karin shrug. "It's not the end of the world I guess. It's really designed for the potential upcoming freshman to the team."

"When would we come back?" Kimi asked.

"The 23rd of August," Mizuki replied, looking at the calendar on her phone. "It would be the Thursday before school starts for you two. So it will be cutting it pretty close."

Karin and Kimi shared a look, before Karin nodded. "We can manage."

"Yeah, we're only telling you this early, because we want you to be able to clear it with your parents by the time it comes around," Akira explained, her eyes going down to her phone when it buzzed. "Anyway, training is over for now. It's going to be dark in about an hour. You two go home and rest."

"Okay," Kimi said, waiting until after Akira and Mizuki left, before she grinned in Karin's direction. "Oh my god, this is awesome!"

"It's going to be interesting working with a team," Karin agreed, as they both started on their way out of the Somi tower. "What if we don't get put on the same team?"

Kimi shrugged, as they walked out in the parking lot. "Hopefully that won't happen, but it'll be okay either way. I just think it'll be cool meeting other Somi's around here that are our age."

Karin focused on Kimi getting her car keys out of her bag. "I'm so jealous that you already have your drivers license and your car."

"You'll get yours soon enough," Kimi replied, offering Karin a smile. "Want to grab a smoothie on the way back to drop you off at your house?"

"Sure, then we can talk more about this whole team thing." Karin agreed, as they got to Kimi's car.

 **A** **t the Kurosaki house,** **a half hour later**

"How was training?" Isshin asked, having stepped in from the back porch when Karin walked in the house.

"It was good. Akira and Mizuki let Kimi and I spar each other for a little while," Karin replied, a slight frown on her face, as she slipped her shoes off. Her mind on what Akira told her about getting a team. "Is Hana around? I saw her car in the driveway."

Isshin motioned to the back door. "Yeah, she's out on the back porch. We're having a late dinner, and grilling out some steaks and vegetables. It should be done in half an hour or so."

"Okay, well I'm going to go shower." Karin replied, scooping up her cat, before she started up the stairs. Her mind focusing on the whole team concept. She mindlessly went through her shower routine, and she came back to her room to plop down on her bed next to Zorro. Her mind moving from the team to unconsciousness.

 _Karin stopped when the girl suddenly turned around to face her. Her fair skin and dark grey eyes made Karin feel like she was looking in a mirror. There was a silver ring type necklace that hung from the girl's neck, and it had a small moonstone in the center of it._

 _Nothing was said between the two, as Karin and the girl stared at each other. Finally the girl moved over to the creek, and knelt down slowly. Stepping closer, Karin opened her mouth to speak, but the creek water started to get way. The reflection of them both grew distorted, and a loud rumbling started._

 _Seemingly not bothered by the rumbling, the girl turned her head to look at Karin, and she smiled. A hand on her necklace. Except this time she didn't say anything to Karin, but just kept on smiling at her._

 _Karin raised an eyebrow. "Who are you?"_

" _You'll find out soon enough," the girl replied, taking a step closer to Karin. "Come meet me. You have an opportunity."_

 _Karin shook her head. "I can't just leave without telling my dad."_

 _The girl smiled at her. "Sure you can. If your dad thinks your doing something Somi related that is."_

Opening her eyes, Karin sat up, as an idea hit her. Grabbing her phone, she hurriedly opened a text to Akira. After that sent she dialed Kimi's phone number next, as the idea started blossoming to what she knew would be a difficult act to pull off. She needed backup.

Ten minutes later, she was walking downstairs just as her dad and Hana were sitting down at the table with dinner. "Hey, I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" Isshin asked, an eyebrow raised at her hurriedly putting on her shoes. "It's already dark out, and your curfew is in half an hour."

"I left my earbuds in Kimi's car, and I was just going to jog over to her house to get it." Karin said, having had to face the door when she lied.

"But you just took a shower." Hana reminded, her eyebrow raised as well.

Karin offered them both a smile. "I know, but I want to make sure I get my earbuds back. I'm supposed to do a video chat with Kimi, Rose, and Naomi tonight. I want to have my headphones in so I don't wake everyone else up."

"Alright then," Isshin finally agreed. "Be careful. Stay on the sidewalk where the street lamps are."

"Sure thing." Karin said, walking out of the house, she jogged over to the sidewalk to start walking. Tucking her earbuds further into her pocket, as she had grabbed them to make sure her little lie she told her dad wouldn't fall through if he asked to see her earbuds when she got back to the house.

Akira's car pulled up alongside where Karin was walking after a moment, and as soon as Karin got in, Akira smirked. "You're lucky that I happened to have grabbed dinner with Mizuki not far away, or else I would have already been back at my apartment near my college thirty minutes away."

"Thanks for meeting me." Karin replied, settling onto the passenger seat, as she took a deep breath.

"What's up?"

Karin took a long deep breath after Akira's question. "I need to do something, and I need your help with it."

Akira raised an eyebrow. "Why do I get the feeling you're about to ask me something top secret?"

"I need to go somewhere over the next few weeks, but I can't tell my family where I am going," Karin started cautiously. Her eyes studying Akira to see if she was going to be okay with this or not, but Akira held a rather firm poker face. "You said that I need to go those last two weeks of Summer to get assigned to a team or whatever. I was thinking about telling my dad and—I guess—everyone else that it's actually going to take the rest of July after next week, and go up until before school starts."

"Why after next week?"

"My anniversary with Toshiro is next week, and it's important that I be here for that. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else," Karin replied, however, she stopped herself before getting too far away from the topic at hand. "I already planned out that I should be done with what I need to do a day or two before Ichigo and Orihime's wedding. I'll fly in the day before, attend the wedding, then leave the two weeks to go get assigned to my Somi team."

Akira's expression remained skeptical. "You would have to lie to everyone… Plus, you have to get Rin on board, because she knows the real scheduled trip."

"I can do that, I think," Karin waved it off, as she focused on Akira. "I just need to know that I have you on board."

It was quiet as Akira let her head rest back on her seat's headrest, before she finally nodded. "Okay. I can do it. You just need to make sure you don't leave any loose ends, and you should probably talk to Kimi."

"I called Kimi already, and she's on board," Karin said, waving it off like it wasn't a big deal. "She'll be at her grandmother's for the next few weeks, so it'll seem legit."

"Okay, well as long as you can get Rin on board, then you should be set for the whole thing."

"I think I can do it," Karin said, humming in thought. "It may be a challenge, but I'm up for it… Thanks Akira."

"No problem- Hey," Akira stopped Karin from getting out of the car. "It's dark out. I can give you a ride home."

"That's okay," Karin shook her head. "I told my dad and Hana that I was going over to Kimi's for something, and I am going to need to walk back to my house to make it seem like I was gone for the right amount of time to actually walk over to Kimi's and back."

"Alright," Akira said, rolling down the window after Karin got out of the car and shut the door. "Be careful."

"Will do." Karin said, waiting until after Akira drove away to start walking back towards her house. _One step complete. I'm really going to do this."_

 **Later that night**

"That was amazing." Taro said, kissing Yuzu again.

"I know," Yuzu agreed, getting off Taro, and settling beside him on the bed. "I think it was nice having those few days apart, it seemed to make this even better than it already was."

"I agree. I would say we should do that more often, but I'd rather not have to spend more time away from you." Taro said, chuckling before he kissed Yuzu again.

When their kiss broke, Yuzu reached over to the floor to grab her shirt and shorts to put on. "I'm going to go get a snack from the kitchen."

"I'll pick out a movie for us to watch," Taro said, remaining where he was in bed. "Will you get me something too?"

"Of course," Yuzu said, kissing Taro one last time, before she walked out of the room. They were currently in the guest bedroom at Hinata's house, and it was a bit strange as she usually slept in Hinata's room when she stayed over. She tried to remain quiet as she walked downstairs. However, she noticed the kitchen light was on, and relaxed a bit. She found Hinata in the kitchen, seemingly having the same idea as her. "Midnight snack?"

"Yeah," Hinata said, before she smirked at the look on Yuzu's face. "You have that look."

"What look?"

"The "I just had sex" look."

"Stop it," Yuzu replied immediately, however, she was quick to give a smug smile. "But I did."

Rolling her eyes and chuckling at Yuzu's smugness. "At least one of us got some tonight. I swear, Yukio fell asleep almost as soon as we got into bed."

"To be fair, he did just finish working a double shift at work."

"I guess, and I understand that he's tired. I just also have needs, and I'm just a little disappointed."

"Well, you do have a whole Summer of opportunities." Yuzu reminded, as she motioned to the house that would be empty without Hinata's family here.

"I guess," Hinata said, getting the snack she had come into the kitchen for. "I'm going to go back to bed. See you in the morning."

"Goodnight." Yuzu replied, waiting until Hinata was gone from the room to focus down on her phone. She had a text from her dad saying goodnight and to have fun at Hinata's. She smiled as she texted her dad goodnight back. _I plan on having a lot of fun over here this Summer. I guess Hinata's family being gone for the Summer is going to be good for both of us._

 **A few days later, June 30th**

"So," Rin started, shutting the door after letting Karin inside the house. "What brings you by?"

"I wanted to talk to you about something." Karin replied, however, she was momentarily distracted by the sight of Raya through the back window. She was running around with her new dog in the backyard, and Kei was out there supervising.

"Getting Raya that dog was probably the best thing we did. She's been having so much fun, and it's taught her a lot about responsibility too," Rin said, noticing where Karin's attention had gone. She motioned for Karin to join her on the couch. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I'm sure Akira told you about sending me and Kimi to be assigned to teams at the end of Summer."

"It was actually my idea," Rin corrected, but waved it off. "That's not important, anyway, continue."

Karin took another long deep breath. "I've got something that I want to do over the month of July, and part of August up until my brother's wedding. I was going to tell my dad that it would take the entire Summer instead of just part of it to be assigned to my team… I was hoping you'd go along with that if my dad were to say something to you."

Rin was frowning right away. "I'm not sure if I should be lying to your father or anyone else really."

"I thought you would say that," Karin said, her eyes glancing back to the windows where Raya and Kei were still outside, then back to Rin. "Which is why I'm going to tell you where I'm going over these next few weeks, but you can't tell anyone else. It's important."

Rin was quiet for a long moment, then she finally nodded. "Okay, what is so important?"

 **T** **hat evening**

"So it is going to start next weekend," Karin said, noticing her dad still wasn't saying anything, and she offered him a smile to reassure him. "And I know it's for a long period of time, but it's all planned out. Everything will be taken care of, and I just need permission to actually go."

Finally her dad broke his plain expression for a frown. "I'm not sure about this Karin."

"Dad, it's important to me," Karin said right away to hopefully keep him from deciding "no" so quickly. "Some do things different than shinigami and quincy, and I don't necessarily have to take this path but I want to. Kimi is going with me too, and eventually Rin and Akira will go as well for a couple of weeks at the end of Summer."

"It's just that you will be gone for almost the whole Summer-"

"It won't be that bad," Karin interrupted hurriedly. "I can call you and text you all the time, and it'll basically be like I'm not even gone. However, I will actually be gone, and you and Hana can have some much needed alone time."

"Karin." Her dad said, a smirk growing on his face at what she was hinting at.

"Well, you just have to get rid of Yuzu first, but she has a job and a social life, so it won't be that difficult to get rid of her." Karin added without hesitation.

"We are not going to be getting rid of your sister," Isshin said, laughing along with Karin, and finally he gave a nod when their laughter settled. "Okay, you can go this Summer. I would just appreciate some phone calls and texts every once in a while."

"Yes, thank you!" Karin exclaimed happily, jumping up and down for a minute, before starting up the stairs to her room. Once in the privacy of her room, she settled down, and looked out the window. _This is really going to happen. I'm finally going to find the answers to my questions… I can keep a secret. Akira and Rin are on board with it, and Kimi's my backup… I can do this. I have to do this._

 **A** **week later,** **July 5** **th**

"What was that?" Hinata asked, after pausing the movie she and Yuzu had been watching.

"I didn't hear anything," Yuzu said, sitting up on her bed to stretch. Hinata was spending the night, and they had spent most of the day watching movies and planned on doing the same all night. A thud sound was heard that Yuzu could hear that time, and she got up. "I'll go check it out."

"Okay, if someone's breaking in, try not to get murdered." Hinata added, grabbing a handful of popcorn from the almost empty bowl on the bed.

"I'll try my best." Yuzu replied, chuckling as she left her room. Once on the main hall, she could tell the occasional noises was from Karin's room. _It's past one in the morning._ She didn't hear any talking come from Karin's room, so she knocked once.

The door opened to reveal Karin, who had just turned to go back into her room. "What?"

Yuzu's eyes followed Karin, as she was unzipping a suitcase. "You look like you are packing."

"Because I am."

"Where are you going?"

"It's a Somi thing," Karin replied quickly, averting her eyes from her sister, as she started pulling clothes out of her closet. "I'm being assigned to a team, and I'll be gone the rest of the Summer."

"What about Orihime and Ichigo's wedding in August?"

"I'll come back for a few days for that."

"Ah," Yuzu said, her eyes sweeping the room when they fell into silence. They landed on an open book and map on Karin's desk. "What's that book about? You've had it for a while now."

"It's just something I've been reading," Karin replied, hurriedly grabbing it off of her desk to put it in her suitcase. "Anyways, it looks like you will have the house to yourself this Summer. I'll be gone, and dad and Hana will probably be working a lot or over at Hana's apartment."

"Yeah, I guess," Yuzu said, watching Karin pack some more. "Isn't this kind of sudden? You leaving the whole Summer."

Karin shrugged. "Not really. I've been planning to do this for over a week."

"Oh… I guess I've been busy."

"Yeah you have. Between work, Taro, and your friends… You're hardly ever home."

"I guess."

Noticing her sister's tone softening, Karin glanced up to meet her eyes. "I mean it's going to be nice for you to have the house to yourself more often this Summer at least… Are you sure you don't want anything to do with the Somi stuff?"

"Yes, I don't want anything to do with it," Yuzu replied quickly. "Rin told me that it is pretty easy to manage a normal human life, as long as I don't take any large efforts in using powers. It's basically like they aren't even there. Not that I know how to use them in the first place. I just have the occasional dream or vision here and there."

Karin shrugged. "As long as you're happy I guess."

Yuzu nodded, and was quiet for a moment, before she laughed. "Although I did have this weird dream the other night of this girl standing by a river."

Unknown to Yuzu, who had been looking away, Karin froze up at her mentioning that.

"I don't think I've ever seen that girl in my life before," Yuzu said, then she laughed. "I swear she looks similar to you though. Her eyes look like yours, and she had this brown wavy hair."

"Did you notice anything else in the dream?"

Karin's hurried question, finally made Yuzu look to her sister. An eyebrow raised. "No, it was just a dream. It felt normal."

Karin seemingly realized she was creating the questioning look in Yuzu's eye, and she made herself relax. "Yeah, sounds like a weird random dream. Maybe it's a sign I need to dye my hair brown."

"I don't think so," Yuzu said with a laugh. "So when is your anniversary with Toshiro again?"

"Tomorrow. I'm leaving on my trip the morning after."

"What do you two have planned for tomorrow?"

"We're just keeping it pretty basic with dinner."

"That's all?" Yuzu asked, motioning to herself. "When it's mine and Taro's anniversary I have like a million things I want to do."

Karin offered her sister a smile. "Well, this is all Toshiro and I wanted to do."

"Right," Yuzu said, resting her hand back on the doorknob. "Well, I am going back to bed. Try not to be so loud or else dad might be the next one coming in here to tell you to keep it down."

"Wouldn't want that," Karin said with a laugh. "Goodnight Yuzu."

"Goodnight Karin." Yuzu replied, before she shut Karin's door. She made it a few steps back towards the small hall her bedroom was off of, before she stopped to look back at Karin's closed bedroom door. _It's going to be strange not seeing her all Summer. I thought out program's were a long time. I can't imagine me leaving Karin for longer than a few weeks._

 **T** **he next evening**

"Hey, I know Toshiro is going to be here any minute," Isshin started, trying to get Karin's attention, as she had been running around getting ready for the last hour. "But we need to discuss your driver's license."

"Oh, we can just postpone that for now." Karin replied, slipping on her shoes.

That made Isshin raise an eyebrow. "Are you sure? You've been talking about it ever since coming back from your music program. We can go early tomorrow morning."

"I'll just get it some other time. If I took the test tomorrow morning, I would probably fail, because I'd be too tired to pay attention. Or I would end up killing the test examiner-" A knock on the door interrupted Karin, she smiled and opened it to see Toshiro. "Aw, you got me flowers."

"I hope you like them." Toshiro said, leaning over to kiss her first, before handing her the bouquet of white and yellow roses.

"Oh that was sweet of you." Hana commented, smiling as Toshiro greeted her and Isshin.

Toshiro slipped his hands in his pockets, as Karin disappeared into the kitchen mumbling about a vase. "So, not that I was eavesdropping, but from the porch, I heard you very loudly say something about killing a test examiner."

Karin's laughter could be heard from the kitchen. Isshin chuckled as well. "She was referring to her driver's license exam. She'd be too tired tomorrow morning to take it before she leaves."

"Wow, I'm surprised she's not taking the exam. She's been talking about it for a couple of weeks now." Toshiro said, a smirk on his face at how there was a thud and Karin's cursing followed in the kitchen.

"So, what are you two doing tonight?" Hana asked.

"I think our only plan is to have dinner," Toshiro replied, stepping away from Zorro who had started going after his feet. "We wanted to keep it simple so Karin could come back early and get some sleep. She's going to be getting up early tomorrow to go to the train station."

"I wonder why she wants to go by train versus taking a plane. It'd be so much faster-"

"I might have a chance of not having to sit next to someone if I take a train," Karin interrupted her dad, as she walked out of the kitchen. The flowers now in a vase, which she placed on the table. She walked back over and kissed Toshiro. "Thank you again for the flowers."

"You're welcome," Toshiro said with a smile, before his eyes went to Isshin and Hana. "I guess we'll be going now."

"Have fun!" Isshin and Hana chorused, before they left outside.

"I'm so ready for this dinner," Karin said, as they walked down the sidewalk to the driveway. "I am starving."

"Same here," Toshiro agreed, opening the passenger side door for her, but paused when she stopped to kiss him. When their kiss broke, he smiled. "What was that for?"

"No reason. I just love you." Karin replied, her smile matching his, as she got in the car. _I love him so much._

 **At dinner**

"This past year went by really quickly," Karin said, after they had ordered their food and the waiter walked away. "So much has happened… What was your favorite moment?"

Toshiro hummed as he ran through the past year in his head. "Well, I really enjoyed our Friday nights in the Fall and Winter. The football games, then bowling started to become a thing. I didn't really do that kind of stuff before I met you, and those were some of my favorite things to look forward to."

"I agree and now we both like football because of it, and that was something I never thought would happen," Karin replied, her smile widening. "Plus, I really liked those nights, because usually I got to go back to your apartment afterwards and spend the night with you which was nice."

"Another reason why I liked them," Toshiro agreed with a chuckle. "I also really enjoyed our trip to Wayhurst in November."

Karin shrugged after laughing. "Who knew that I would enjoy hanging out with my brother in a social setting?" She asked, laughing again, before she settled back into a smile. "Some of those nights up in Wayhurst were my absolute favorite moments of the whole year."

"Mine too," Toshiro agreed, sharing a knowing smile with her. "It's going to be strange having you gone for the next two months."

"Yeah..." Karin trailed off, before she gave a sympathetic smile. "I know it seems like it's last minute of me telling you, but you were in the Soul Society for the last few days."

"It's okay. I'm just disappointed that we won't be seeing each other hardly at all over the next couple months," Toshiro said, reaching over to rest his hand on hers. "At least we'll see each other at Orihime and Ichigo's wedding. Sure, it'll only be for the day of the actual wedding, but that's something to look forward to."

"This is really important to me though-"

"I understand, believe me I understand. I want you to find out what that book means and what you've been dreaming about lately," Toshiro interrupted her, his thumb running over the top of her hand. "I'm just going to miss you. That's all I'm trying to say."

"Well, I'm going to miss you too." Karin said, her eyes going to the waiter who walked back with their appetizer. Toshiro was saying something to the guy, and she just smiled as she looked at him. _I can't believe we've been together for a whole year. It flew by so quickly…_

 **An hour later**

"Tonight was fun," Karin said, as she and Toshiro stopped on her porch. "This last year together has been amazing."

"It has," Toshiro agreed, wrapping his arms around her, and kissing her for a long moment. "I'll see you early tomorrow morning."

"You don't have to do that-"

"I want to see you off," Toshiro interrupted her, and he caressed her cheek. "We spent twenty-five days apart from each other when you were at your music program. Now we're about to spend almost two whole months away from each other, and I want to get every minute I can with you until then."

That brought a smile to Karin's face. "In that case, maybe you can sleep over."

"I think I could do that." Toshiro smiled back at her, then they kissed once more before going inside.

"Hey you two," Isshin said, his arm loosely around Hana's shoulders, as it appeared they had been watching a movie. "How was dinner?"

"It was great," Karin said, her eyes moving from Toshiro to her dad. "Is it alright if Toshiro stays over? We won't be able to see each other for two months."

"Sure," Isshin agreed with a nod. "I assumed he'd be going with us to drop you off at the train station tomorrow morning anyway."

"That's the plan." Toshiro said, before he and Karin went upstairs. A few minutes later, they were getting into bed, and he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.

When their kiss broke, Karin smiled, but raised an eyebrow at a look in his eye. "What?"

"I'm just enjoying the moment," Toshiro said, kissing her again, and smiling when she rested her head against his chest. "Happy anniversary baby."

"Happy anniversary." Karin replied, her smile growing as she closed her eyes. She soon found herself being pulled into sleep.

 _Karin stopped when the girl suddenly turned around to face her. Her fair skin and dark grey eyes made Karin feel like she was looking in a mirror. There was a silver ring type necklace that hung from the girl's neck, and it had a small moonstone in the center of it._

 _Nothing was said between the two, as Karin and the girl stared at each other. Finally, the girl moved over to the creek, and knelt down slowly. Stepping closer, Karin opened her mouth to speak, but the creek water started to get way. The reflection of them both grew distorted, and a loud rumbling started._

 _Despite how calm the other girl was, Karin looked around to try to find the source of the rumbling. Looking over her shoulder just in time to move out of the way as a horse galloped past her. To be followed by at least fifteen other horses._

" _Oh my god." Karin said, her eyes wide as she watched the galloping herd._

 _The girl reached out and took Karin's hand. "Come on."_

 _Karin found herself being led by the girl out into a large open clearing where the herd of horses stopped to graze. And they continued walking until they stopped along an overlook that showed an amazing view of what seemed like endless forest and mountains in the distance. A beautiful sunset behind it all had Karin breathless. "This is..."_

" _Home." Was all the girl said._

 **The next morning**

"I'm going to miss you guys." Karin said, as she hugged her dad for the last time."

"Where's Kimi?" Hana asked, glancing around them. "Wouldn't you two travel together?"

"Oh no," Karin replied hurriedly, she had to smooth over her features with a smile. "She'll be flying there. She's going from her grandmother's house down South… But I'll be okay traveling by myself. I'll be sure to text you all when I get there."

That had her dad nodding. "Good… And your brother and Orihime wanted to be here, but it seems they had a pretty rough night getting Mina to go to sleep last night."

"That's okay. Just make sure you tell them that I love them and to send me tons of pictures of Mina and my fur-nephew Bingo. Oh, by the way, I want tons of pictures of Zorro too," Karin said, her focus finally going to Toshiro as they hugged. "I am going to miss you so much."

"Same here," Toshiro said, kissing her once, before getting close to whisper in her ear. "I love you baby."

"I love you too." Karin replied, kissing him one last time, before she grabbed the handle of her suitcase. She gave them all one last wave, before she stepped onto the train. She found her seat, and looked out the window to see her dad, Hana, and Toshiro waving at her. She waved back, before the train started going forward. Settling back in her seat, she sighed and closed her eyes. _Here we go._

 **At the Kurosaki house**

"I'm so excited to go to the beach." Hinata gushed, as she pulled on a beach cover up over her bathing suit.

"I know. It's going to take us two hours to get there, but it'll be so worth it," Yuzu said, returning back to her bedroom after grabbing some sunscreen and lotion from the bathroom. "We'll just have to listen to a lot of music on the way there, and maybe the ride will go by faster."

"We've also got plenty of snack for the drive over," Hinata added, as she and Yuzu left to go downstairs. It wasn't until they were outside on the way to Hinata's car that she laughed from a text Yukio sent her. "I think everyone is on their way at this point. We'll probably be the last to get there."

"That's okay," Yuzu said, putting some of her stuff in Hinata's trunk. "We'll be fashionably late… I'm so happy we're doing this. We're going to have the best Summer."

Hinata cranked up her car. "I guess having my parents and little sister gone for most of the Summer has turned out better than I thought since I can basically do whatever I want to."

Yuzu laughed shortly, as she shut the trunk and got in on the passenger's side. "I heard you yesterday telling your mom on the phone how sad you were that they were gone."

"I'm going for guilt Yuzu. If my parents feel guilty about leaving me behind this Summer, if I do something that gets me in trouble, it won't be nearly as bad."

"You're bad." Yuzu said with a laugh.

"I know… I'm surprised you didn't go see your sister off. Isn't she going to be gone the whole Summer?"

"Almost the whole Summer. She'll be back for our brother's wedding," Yuzu replied, then she shrugged. "Besides, Karin and I don't need to go through the whole dramatic seeing each other off type stuff. We basically already did a couple of nights ago, and there was no real reason to make it a big deal again."

"Alright," Hinata said, putting the top down on her car, before buckling up her seat belt. "Let's go to the beach."

"Yes, I'm so ready for this!" Yuzu cheered, before turning the radio up loud. _This is going to be a great Summer._

 **Seven hours later**

Getting off the train, Karin pulled the straps of her bag up onto her shoulder, and grabbed the handle of her suitcase. Her grip tightening, as her nerves grew. Everyone around her walked with a mission. All seemingly confident on where they were going and what they were doing here. After moving so she was a little out of the way, Karin turned on her phone, and looked at the picture of the map she took. This was definitely the location. It was a seven-hour trade rain from Karakura. The feeling of uncertainty overcame her, as she brought a hand up to the necklace she had taken of her mom's from the attic. _What if this was a mistake?_

Footsteps approaching caught her attention, and she looked up into dark grey eyes that matched her own. Wavy brown hair framing a feminine face. A hand on a necklace that matched the one on Karin's own neck. She felt like she was being hit with major deja vu. "You're real."

"I am," the girl responded, a smile on her face, as she took Karin's hand. "You're here. Finally."

* * *

 **A/N: We'll be seeing a time skip in the next chapter to the end of Summer. In the mean time, if you read my stories "The Reason" and it's sequel "Finding What's Lost" you might want to keep an eye out for the final chapter of Finding What's Lost. It's coming up soon, and it will be Orihime and Ichigo's wedding. You will see a little bit of Karin and Yuzu in the chapter as well.**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

 **Be sure to like my page (Ruby1235 Fanfiction) on Facebook and follow me on twitter ( Ruby1235Fanfic) for updates, sneak peeks, and hints for current and new stories :)**


	28. Summer's Over

_Review:_

 _The feeling of uncertainty overcame her, as she brought a hand up to the necklace she had taken of her mom's from the attic. What if this was a mistake?_

 _Footsteps approaching caught her attention, and she looked up into dark grey eyes that matched her own. Wavy brown hair framing a feminine face. A hand on a necklace that matched the one on Karin's own neck. She felt like she was being hit with major deja vu. "You're real."_

" _I am," the girl responded, a smile on her face, as she took Karin's hand. "You're here. Finally."_

* * *

 **T** **wo months later, Thursday, August 24** **th**

"Oh my god!" Yuzu exclaimed, laughing as they flew down the street in Hinata's newly painted car. "I think this new paint job makes your car seem so much faster."

"Well, I guess we should be thanking my parents for leaving me all Summer," Hinata replied, slowing down for a red light. "They felt so bad for leaving me alone that they offered to get me new tires and a new paint job for my car."

"It's really amazing, and I'm so jealous."

Hinata smiled at Yuzu's over-dramatic sigh that followed her words. "Well, you shouldn't have waited until late November last year to get your learner's permit."

Yuzu shrugged and propped her head up with her hand. "That's not the only reason why I'm jealous."

"Karin?"

"Yeah. She doesn't even have any idea yet either," Yuzu said, looking at the time on her phone. "Her plane should be landing any moment now."

"Let's not think about it," Hinata said, motioning for Yuzu to put her phone away. "Want to go get ice cream?"

"Absolutely," Yuzu said, dropping her phone in her purse, as the light turned green and Hinata quickly accelerated. The car made it feel like they were flying down the street, and she raised her hands up. "Woohoo!"

 **The Karakura Airport**

Sighing heavily as she leaned against the back of her hair, Karin focused on tapping her fingers on the arm of her chair. _Of course, as soon as I finally come home, they have to take forever in getting all of our luggage off the plane._

"Karin!"

The sound of her dad's voice got her attention, and she glanced over her shoulder to see her dad, Hana, and Ichigo walking over. Jumping up from her chair, she ran right over and hugged them all. "Hey guys."

"Wow," Hana said, after they got their initial greeting out of the way. Her eyes on Karin's hair. "Is this a new look for you?"

Karin's hand went to her head. She still had her usual black up top, and the bottom layer of blonde was lessened, but still there. She had lately been wearing her hair wavy instead of its usual straight appearance. "Yeah, it just got easier to manage this way. It got so hot this Summer, and this was the look that had the least amount of frizzy hair at the end of the day."

"How was your Summer?" Isshin asked.

At the mention of her Summer got Karin smiling big again. "It was amazing. So many things happened."

"It must have been quite around dad's house without you there." Ichigo added, smirking as he had to dodge Karin's fist.

"Shut up!" Karin exclaimed, however, the glare in her eyes switched to happiness when she saw Toshiro walking over. She ran right to him, and jumped into his arms. "I missed you so much!"

"I miss you too," Toshiro said, kissing her once. His eyes caught onto her wavy hair. "Your hair is different. I like it."

"Thank you. Hey Orihime." Karin said to her sister-in-law who had approached a bit slower, as she had Mina on her hip. She reached forward and hugged Orihime.

"It's good to see you Karin," Orihime said, having to adjust Mina who was sliding down her hip a little. "We almost didn't get to come, because Mina was really late on taking her nap today."

"I appreciate you coming either way," Karin said, leaning over a little to focus on Mina. "Hey baby girl. What's my name?"

"KK." Mina replied, more interested in touching Karin's hair.

Orihime sighed, but she smiled at Karin. "We're working on it."

"That's okay. I can go by KK-" Karin broke off as the sound of two people arguing nearby got her attention, and it brought a frown to her face.

"So where is your suitcase?" Isshin asked, seemingly unaffected by the argument nearby.

"They are taking forever bringing the luggage to baggage claim, so I'm just waiting until then-" Karin broke off again at the arguing, but this time she sighed heavily and held up one finger to her family. "Give me one second."

"Okay..." Ichigo trailed off, an eyebrow raised as his sister started direction of the two arguing boys. They looked about Karin's age.

Karin stomped right over to the two, and smacked them both on the back of the head. "Would you two shut the hell up? You are embarrassing me!"

"Ow!" The dirty blonde haired one complained, rubbing the back of his head. Meanwhile, the dark brown haired one glared darkly at her. "What was that for-"

"Zip it." Karin interrupted them, her eyes narrowing as if she was daring them to say something else.

The overhead speaker came on to let them know the luggage was finally coming in, and that had quite a few people getting up to head over to baggage claim.

"I have to go get my suitcase," Karin said to her family, but noticed them still staring at the two guys near her. She sighed heavily and crossed her arms over her chest. "Okay… This is Raiden with brown hair and Shohei with the blonde. Long story short, they are my teammates. It's what Akira sent me to do this Summer. Sending me away to force me to team up with these two idiots."

"Hey!" Chorused Raiden and Shohei together, before Shohei glared calmly. "I resent that."

"And who are you calling idiot?" Raiden added, clearly more fired up than Shohei.

"Oh my god just hearing your voice makes me want to slam my head into a brick wall." Karin countered, starting in the direction of the baggage claim. Her two teammates not far behind her, not letting go what she said to them.

It was quiet as the others watched Karin walk away. Isshin being the first to make noise with a chuckle. "Welcome home Karin, I guess."

 **A half hour later**

Walking out of the airport, Karin sighed happily. "It's so nice to be back here… Never thought I would say that."

"Well, you've been gone a while, and we only got to see you a few days at the wedding," Orihime reminded, having to readjust Mina after she started sliding down her hip again. "So you're teammates seem interesting."

"You have no idea," Karin said, a smirk on her face. "The whole process of being assigned to a team is a whole big thing, but apparently Rin and Akira think we're supposed to work well together. However, I think they are just trying to torture me."

Toshiro smirked along with her. "I'm sure that's _exactly_ what they had in mind."

"I was just hoping they'd put Kimi and me on the same team." Karin said.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "What would be the point of you going somewhere else to be assigned to a team then?"

"As I said, it's a whole big thing, and I'll explain that some other time," Karin said, as they finally reached the parking lot. "How are we all going to fit into one car?"

"We took two cars so it won't be too crowded." Isshin replied, as they reached where his car was in the lot.

"That makes sense-" Karin stopped speaking once she stopped as well. Her eyes went immediately to her dad's car. "Did you guys not park near each other?"

"We did park next to each other actually." Was all Isshin said.

Karin raised an eyebrow, at the lack of familiar cars around. "Dad, I think you're getting old and blind."

While that made the others laugh, Isshin smirked at his daughter's words, as he motioned to the car to the right of his. "I can see just fine, and I'm not that old, thank you."

"Whose car is this?" Karin asked, at the black car her dad was motioning too. "No one in our family owns this car."

"Someone does."

Karin's eyes snapped over to her dad. She raised an eyebrow at the smirk her dad had on his face. When nothing else was said, it finally hit her what her dad was getting at, and her jaw dropped. "Oh my god. Seriously?!

"Yes seriously," Isshin said, smirking at how quickly excitement took over Karin's face. "You got your license the day after your brother's wedding most importantly. However, you also got all As in school, and it's partially a birthday present as well. I would have got it for you a couple of months ago, but you left on your trip."

"Thank you so much dad!" Karin exclaimed happily, hugging her dad before accepting the keys to go check the car out. "It's just like what I wanted."

After letting Karin explore the car a bit, Isshin cleared his throat to get her attention again. "Just so we are on the same page, this car is in both of our names, and you'll be the insurance payments every month. I'll be paying off the car itself. When you are fully ready for the responsibility for the car entirely, I will sign it completely over to you. It's going to be a new responsibility that you are going to have to take seriously."

"Okay, I will!" Karin exclaimed happily, running over to hug her dad again. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You're welcome." Isshin said, a warm smile on his face. "If you want to go ahead and go test drive your new car, make sure you're back at the house soon. We're making food."

"Okay," Karin said, popping the trunk to put her suitcase and carry on bag in, before she sped over to get in on the driver's side. Once she had the car turned on, she couldn't help but laugh excitedly at how this was very much real. "I can't way to drive this thing."

"I hadn't noticed." Toshiro chuckled.

Karin smiled as she looked to Toshiro, and noticed him smiling big at her. "What?"

Toshiro's smile seemed to widen, as he shrugged. "I'm just happy to see you, baby."

Leaning over the center console to kiss him, Karin's smile returned when their kiss broke. "I'm happy see you too… Now let's go. I'm dying to test this car out-"

"Wait!" Toshiro exclaimed dramatically, as he grabbed his seat belt. "I haven't put on my seat belt yet."

Fighting the urge to roll her eyes at his over-dramatic words, Karin smirked instead. "Okay, I thought I am the one who is supposed to be dramatic, and you are supposed to be the normal one."

"Safety is not being dramatic," Toshiro shot back, proceeding to dramatically show that he was buckling his seat belt. Then he visibly relaxed. "I'm good. You can now put the car in motion."

"You are actually ridiculous, but I love you anyways." Karin replied, smiling as she backed the car out of the parking space, then she joined in on Toshiro's laughter.

 **Almost an hour later**

"Okay, something is different here." Karin said, stopping when she reached the front steps of the house. Her eyes taken in the flowers that were planted around the porch, then a swing on the porch was re-done. "That's weird."

"It looks the same as it always does." Toshiro said, having taken a moment longer to grab her suitcase from the trunk of Karin's car and lock it up for her.

Karin raised an eyebrow, as she motioned to the flowers and the swing. "That's different. I'm not crazy right?"

"Well, I don't know about that- ow." Toshiro said, laughing as his words had got him a smack on his shoulder.

"The flowers are new, and the swing looks different," Karin said, as they walked up the stairs to the porch, and walked in the house. Immediately seeing a black furry fluff ball under the coffee table, she reached under and pulled out Zorro. "I'm sorry to wake you up from your nap, but you need to be more excited to see me."

Isshin walked in from the back porch. "We're almost done grilling out back here."

"Sounds good, because I am starving." Karin replied, having to remove Zorro's claws from her shirt, before he proceeded to get them caught on her bag on her shoulder.

"We were wondering where you two were." Orihime said, having settled on the couch with a sleeping Mina in her arms.

"Sorry, we took the long way home," Karin said, then she grinned and set Zorro down. "I wanted to test out my new car and all."

Toshiro raised a hand, then motioned to himself. "Don't worry everyone. I survived."

"Toshiro!" Karin exclaimed, however, she joined in with everyone's laughter. Her eyes picked up on a brown and black striped look tabby cat jumping up onto the back of the couch nearest her in order to sniff her arm. "Hello strange cat that I've never seen in my life… What is going on around here?"

"What do you mean?" Isshin asked, having paused on his way to go back out on the back porch.

"This entire house has done a complete flip while I was gone. Everything is different." Karin replied, finally getting to the point where the strange cat let her scratch behind its ears.

"I think we mentioned it in one of the brief phone calls we had with you shortly after your brother's wedding," Isshin started, his eyes moving from Hana to Karin. "But Hana has been starting the process of moving in with us."

"I don't remember that conversation, but finally." Karin said, waving it off, as she focused back on petting the new cat.

Isshin raised an eyebrow at how calm she was. "Well, that was the response I was expecting."

"Oh my god dad, it's not _that_ surprising. You two have been dating for over a year, and are obviously super in love. Why wait so long?" Karin countered, however, she didn't wait for a response, as her attention went back to the new cat. "More importantly, I need an introduction to this fluff ball right now."

"Her name is Lou. Her full name is Louise, but it's kind of morphed into Lou only," Hana explained, chuckling at the cat. "I named her after a character on this TV show I was watching when she happened to stumble into my house through the chimney."

"I like her." Karin determined after a moment of the cat rubbing up against her hand cutely.

"Don't worry, I made sure to introduce Zorro and Lou slowly, and they've grown to tolerate each other over the past few days," Hana said, clicking her tongue to get Zorro to come over so she could pet him. At that moment, Bingo came running in from the backyard. Lou took off to run behind the TV. "Lou doesn't really like Bingo yet though, but we're working on it"

"With how much energy Bingo has, I don't even think Zorro tolerates him at this point," Ichigo said, chuckling at how Bingo seemed to prove the point when he got too close to Zorro, and the black cat hissed. "When we were watching Zorro for you for a little while he stayed on the top of the refrigerator quite often."

"I'm sure they will all be best friends… Eventually- whoa!" Karin exclaimed, laughing as Bingo had knocked her over with how much attention he was requesting from her. The front door opening gave Karin a little break, as Bingo ran over to greet Yuzu, who had just walked in.

"Hey boy." Yuzu greeted the golden retriever, before closing the door behind her. Her eyes darting around for the cats to make sure they were in the house and didn't manage to slip outside.

"Where have you been Yuzu?" Isshin asked her.

"I was out with Hinata. She is out in the car still. I'm going to change into my bathing suit, and we're going to go swimming in her pool," Yuzu replied, her eyes went to Karin then. "And I'm apparently just in time to see Karin."

"Wow Yuzu," Karin started, motioning to her sister's arms. "You are so tan."

"Oh please, this is barely anything," Karin said, motioning to herself, then back to her sister. "You, on the other hand, are really tan. Your hair has even gotten a little blonde at the top from being out in the sun so much."

"Yeah, I mean, Hinata and I had a really busy Summer, and we tried to make the best of every moment. Hinata's parents actually flew us out to the islands for the last week, and we were on the beach all day for days."

"Lucky, I'm so jealous."

At her sister saying that, Yuzu's mood lifted a little. "Really? I've been jealous of you. You've been gone all Summer basically on your own, and you probably had so many things happen."

Karin opened her mouth, but hesitated in replying for a moment. She settled a smile back on her face. "It certainly was a busy Summer. But we can talk about it later. Let's get something to eat. I'm starving."

 **A couple of hours later**

"I wish you didn't have to go." Karin said, walking out of the house to go to Toshiro's car.

"Believe me, I don't want to go either," Toshiro replied, having taken her hand as soon as they were outside. "Unfortunately, I have to go meet at Urahara's, and it's going to be a long night."

"You're being so responsible, and I admire that. I also want to be selfish and have you all to myself." Karin said, laughing along with Toshiro, as they finally reached his car. Her eyes left him to look at her own car that was parked in the driveway behind both her dad's car and Hana's car.

Toshiro followed her eye line to where she was looking longingly at her new car. "I picture you driving that thing everywhere over the next couple weeks."

"Of course, I love it so much. I am probably going to take several unnecessary trips just so I can drive it more," Karin said, chuckling again, before she finally sighed. "So tomorrow, I have training with my team, and I have to go back to school shopping with Kimi at some point afterward. Maybe you and I can see each other tomorrow morning before I have to go train."

"I think that sounds like a perfect idea." Toshiro agreed, pulling her closer to kiss her.

Karin had gone to pull away, but found Toshiro holding onto her a moment longer to continue their kiss. When they finally broke apart, she felt a little breathless. It brought a big smile to her face. "I love you."

"I love you too." Toshiro replied, kissing her one last time, before finally letting her go.

Karin waited until Toshiro drove away to turn back to the house. A happy fluttering feeling inside of her. _I've missed him, and that kiss was definitely something._

 **Later that evening**

Yuzu closed her bedroom door, and sighed as it was finally quiet. When she got back from the pool at Hinata's she found that more of their makeshift family had come over. Rin, Kei, and Raya. Then Mai, Hikari, and Emi showed up about the same time as Yuzu did. It had been a very full house for the past few hours, and she finally managed to slip away up to her room. As much as she enjoyed listening to Karin's stories from her trip, she just wanted to go to sleep early after having gotten a little sunburnt today.

After changing into pajamas, Yuzu was settled on her bed, and had her journal on her lap. She had managed to write down a few sentences when she heard something outside her window that made her freeze. Feeling slightly nervous, she jumped a little when her phone buzzed on her leg.

 _Taro:_ _Don't worry. It's just me._

Yuzu smiled and got up to open her window for Taro to come inside. "Hey."

"Hey back." Taro replied, once inside her room, he wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her.

When their kiss broke, Yuzu smiled and closed her window. "You didn't have to come through my window. We're going to see each other tomorrow."

"I know, but I just wanted to see you." Taro said, his hands slid further down on her hips, as they kissed again.

Almost getting too caught up in the moment, Yuzu had to pull back when Taro's hands were sliding up under her shirt. "Taro, my family is downstairs."

"I think we'll be okay. We just need to be a bit quieter." Taro murmured, between giving her soft kisses down her neck.

Smiling at how pleasing his attention was, Yuzu glanced to her closed door, then she focused back on Taro. "Okay, as long as we can stay quiet."

 **A half hour later**

Taro slid his arm around Yuzu, and he leaned back on the pillows a bit more. "How is it having your sister back?"

"I don't know… It hasn't really hit yet," Yuzu said, then she frowned. "Of course seeing her brand new car in the driveway is a pretty obvious change."

"She just got her license earlier than you did. It's not that big of a deal."

"I know… I kind of liked being an only child this Summer. My brother moved out last year, then Karin was always around. So when she was gone this Summer… It was kind of fun."

"I thought it was a pretty fun Summer too," Taro agreed, wrapping his arm around her. "When your dad worked late, or when he stayed the night over at his girlfriend's that is. We had a lot of time alone here."

"Yeah we did," Yuzu said, smiling as they kissed. She returned to resting her head back on his chest, then she sighed. "That probably won't be happening again anytime soon. Karin's back and Hana's officially moved in."

Taro didn't seem too concerned, as he chuckled. "We'll find a way. We always do."

 _Yeah…_ Yuzu thought, feeling sleep coming over her. _I did miss Karin this Summer though. Even though I had a lot of freedom it felt kind of… Lonely._

 **Karin's Room**

Staring at the now empty suitcase on her bed, Karin took a satisfied breath. _One down…_ Her eyes focused on another suitcase that was half under her bed, and she knelt down to slide it out. When she came back for Orihime and Ichigo's wedding a couple of weeks ago, she stuck this one under her bed, and used another to take with her on her trip to meet her new teammates. The suitcase under her bed hadn't been touched since she came back for the wedding.

Knowing what awaited her inside, Karin unzipped the suitcase and opened it to be greeted with a wave of memories that brought on happiness. The book that she had been with her for months was tucked in with her clothes and shoes. She pulled out a stack of pictures she had taken while she was gone, and flipping through them brought back even more perfect moments. _I'm so glad I did this… My life changed, and I've never been happier._

Flipping through the photos a couple of times over, she finally got up and stuck them inside her bedside table drawer. Going back to the suitcase, she picked up the necklace. She stepped in front of the floor length mirror in her closet, and held the necklace up to her neck. _I wore this almost every day while I was gone earlier this Summer, and I would wear it now… I just don't want anyone asking questions._ Studying her reflection and the necklace for a moment longer, she went and put it in her bedside table drawer along with the book and the pictures. She grabbed her phone next to send a text.

 _I miss you all. I can't wait until I can come back and visit._

 **The next day**

Opening her eyes after enjoying the feeling of Taro's hand rubbing her back, Yuzu smiled as he was looking at her. "Good morning."

"Morning," Taro replied, kissing her after she stretched. "I was wondering when you were going to wake up."

"Well, I'm pretty sure it's because I'm hungry," Yuzu replied, sitting up and yawning. "I wonder if everyone is gone by now."

Taro propped himself up on his elbows. "I could just go out the window if you want."

Yuzu laughed, as she got out of bed. "Not just yet. Let me check first. If no one is here, I want you to stay and hang out with me."

"Can't argue with that." Taro said, resting back on the pillows again.

After pulling on some shorts, Yuzu left her room to find both cats outside her door. _Well, I'm guessing everyone is gone since they have come to my room for their last resort._ She kept on until she was in Karin's bedroom. Opening the curtains to look out, she found all the cars gone from the driveway. Smiling she left Karin's room, and walked down to the hall her bedroom was off of. "Everyone is gone, let's go get food."

"Sweet," Taro said, grabbing his shirt off the ground, before following her out of her bedroom. "Why does your dad and Hana take separate cars if they both work at the hospital?"

"My dad's at work and Hana is signing a bunch of papers at her old place to break her lease," Yuzu explained, grabbing them both cereal bowls once they were in the kitchen. "Hana won't be back until noon."

Taro smirked as she wrapped his arms around her waist. "So we have plenty of time to eat breakfast and be lazy on the couch for the rest of the morning."

"Yes we do," Yuzu said, turning her head so she could kiss Taro. Meows coming from Zorro and Lou got her attention, and she sighed. "Okay, I've got to give the cats their breakfast, and you can get our cereal."

 **Toshiro's apartment**

"Thank you for making breakfast. It was really good." Karin said, sitting on the kitchen counter, as she was watching Toshiro put the last of the dishes into the dishwasher.

"You're welcome." Toshiro replied, his eyes moving from the dishes to her.

"I have to go to training soon, but at least we got to spend an hour and a half together this morning," Karin said, her eyes focusing down on her phone as she got a text from Kimi. "I'm not really looking forward to training, because I can't stand my teammates. Akira said it's supposed to get better, but it's not. They are both incredibly annoying."

At no response from Toshiro, Karin's eyes lifted from her phone, and she found his eyes were fixated on her chest and it brought a smirk to her face. She reached over to tap his forehead, then she pointed to her eyes when he finally looked her in the eye. "Eyes up here."

Toshiro smirked, as he stepped closer to her, his hands resting on her waist. "Am I not allowed to check out my girlfriend? It's been a long time since I've really got to see you in person after all."

"Really? I hadn't noticed." Karin joked, laughing along with Toshiro.

"Well, in case I haven't already told you, I like this new look of yours." Toshiro said, his hand reaching up to her wavy hair, before he kissed her.

As usual, whenever he kissed her, she got this fluttering feeling inside her chest. However, this time she found it turning into a much more fiery feeling, as his hands slid up and down from her waist to her hips. She hadn't felt this kind of feeling before, but when one of his hands were sliding up her side towards her chest, it felt kind of exciting to her. However, they were interrupted when her phone started ringing. Their kiss broke, and she sighed heavily before answering her phone as she could see it was her Raiden. "What?"

" _Um, you can lose the attitude. Shohei and I just wanted to call and ask where you are. We having training."_

"I'm aware of that. It doesn't start for fifteen minutes, and I will be there in fifteen minutes."

" _Okay well-"_

"I will be there. Now stop bothering me," Karin interrupted, then she hung up the phone before they could say anything back. She sighed and smiled, as her eyes found Toshiro's again. "I, unfortunately, have to go."

"Okay," Toshiro said, with an over-dramatic sigh that turned into a smile at Karin's laugh. Offering her his hand as she got of the counter. "Maybe we can see each other on Saturday or Sunday."

"I think we can work something out," Karin said, stopping at the door to kiss Toshiro one last time. "Love you."

"I love you too," Toshiro replied, kissing her again, before opening his door. "Don't get a ticket driving your new car."

"We'll see." Karin shot back with a laugh, as she left. Once she heard Toshiro's door shut, she paused and brought a hand to her chest. Her heart fluttering still. _He's touched me like that when we're kissing… I kind of liked it._

 **Later that day**

"I bought way too much stuff at the mall." Yuzu said to herself, as she walked in the house. She knew her dad and Hana were out, as both their cars were gone from the driveway. However, she knew her sister was home. _Which explains the lack of cats greeting me at the door._ Shuffling the shopping bags in her hands to a more comfortable position, she started upstairs but paused in Karin's doorway. "You're destroying your room?"

"I'm not destroying it… I'm just changing it," Karin said, pointing some bags on the floor that were half open and rummaged through. "I bought some new stuff for my room after I got done training."

Yuzu shuffled the shopping bags in her hands again, but this time it was to keep Zorro from jumping up and getting his claws stuck in them. "Want some help?"

"Uh sure..." Karin trailed off, focusing as she took her old curtains off her window.

Yuzu left to go put her stuff down in her room, and returned back in time to help Karin put the new curtains on. They were a rusty orange color that complemented Karin's new lampshades and small décor here at there. Her new comforter was white, and she had a grey throw that was hanging over her desk chair. Grabbing the desk chair to stand on, she eyed her sister. "You really went all out."

"I mean some things are the same," Karin said with a shrug. "I just needed a little change."

"This is definitely different than last year." Yuzu commented after helping Karin put up the curtains over her window.

"It's not too different," Karin disagreed, getting down from the stool she was standing on, and starting on putting the new pillowcases on her pillows. "It's just… Okay it is different. I don't think I could see myself buying anything orange or yellow for my room."

Yuzu started on another pillow, as she studied her sister. "What brought on the change?"

"I don't know. I guess I changed over the Summer… A lot of things have changed," Karin said, a smile growing on her face, as she tossed the pillow towards the headboard of her bed. "I feel so much more happy and things seem to be right for once… Anyway, enough about me. How was your Summer? We didn't get to talk much since I got home."

"It was great actually," Yuzu said, a small smirk growing on her face. "I got to spend some much needed alone time with Taro this Summer."

"I'm glad my absence helped improve your sex life." Karin shot back, making them both laugh.

"Speaking of that," Yuzu's curious eyes landed on her sister. "Have you and Toshiro..."

Freezing momentarily as Karin realized what Yuzu was asking, she hurriedly tried to get back to folding up her old pillowcases. "I haven't seen Toshiro in almost two months. When would we have possibly had time to?"

"I mean, you did come back for Orihime and Ichigo's wedding-"

"Yeah but I only saw him at the wedding and for dinner afterward. He didn't stay the night over at the house or anything," Karin interrupted her sister, feeling herself getting a little flustered by the topic. "Besides, we still haven't done anything, and I don't know if that's going to change."

Yuzu raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?"

"You know what I mean," Karin replied hurriedly, feeling her cheeks grow slightly warm as Yuzu laughed. She quickly threw her old curtains at her sister. "Help me take some of this stuff downstairs, and I will make you the best grilled cheese you've ever had in your entire life."

"Can't wait." Yuzu replied, starting on folding up the curtain, and she started laughing against at her sister's glare.

 **A few days later, Monday, August 28th**

Pulling into the parking spot right beside Kimi's, Karin grinned as she turned her car off. _This is so surreal, driving myself to school. I can't believe Sophomore year is already here._

Kimi was already around to the driver's side when Karin was getting out of the car, and she was matching grins with Karin. "Wow, your car is even more amazing in person. The pictures just don't do it justice."

"I know, it's perfect! It's just what I wanted-"

"Karin!"

A loud male voice exclaiming her name interrupted Karin, and she groaned in recognition of the voice. "It's Raiden, and Shohei is not far behind him."

Kimi smirked at Karin's now irritated expression. "How has training gone with your team now that we are back home?"

"It went about the same as it did when we were away," Karin replied, rolling her eyes, as she sighed. "We fight a lot."

"My team is at least tolerable." Kimi said, eyeing Karin's teammates approaching.

"Don't rub it in." Karin shot back, laughing along with Kimi, as her teammates finally got within earshot.

Raiden held a grin on his face. "Isn't it funny that we've been going to the same school, and had no idea about each other this whole time?"

"Yeah, _so funny._ " Karin said, deadpanning as she turned to start walking to the school.

Raiden jogged to catch up to them. "So Kimi, where are your teammates?"

"I don't know." Kimi replied.

"Why don't you know?" Raiden countered.

"Because we've only known each other for a few weeks now," Kimi said, her eyes narrowing at Raiden's over-energetic personality. "It's not like we're best friends who know where each other are all the time."

Raiden scrunched his nose up. "That's weird."

"No it's really not," Shohei said, crossing his arms over his chest. "You were the one who dragged me against my will over to talk to Karin."

"Thanks." Was Karin's sarcastic reply, as she rolled her eyes.

Shohei crossed his arms over his chest. "So he's not getting on your nerves?"

"You both are actually," Karin shot back, then she mumbled, "Just by existing."

While that had Shohei glaring at Karin again, Raiden grinned. "I think we should be friends. Since we're part of a team and all."

Kimi laughed at how that produced grumbles from Shohei and Karin. "You guys are so cheerful-" She broke off when she received a text. "Natsuki is inside by our lockers."

"Perfect," Karin said, her focus going back to Shohei and Raiden. "Don't say anything to our non-somi friends."

"Obviously." Shohei muttered with an eye roll.

Karin sighed heavily and glared at him. "You're so calm, but yet, you make me want to punch you in the face every time I talk to you."

Kimi laughed and looped her arm through Karin's. "You need to relax and enjoy the first day of school. We're reuniting with all of our friends, and it is going to be a good time."

"Let's hope so." Karin said, trying to put a smile on her face. Sophomore _year here we go._

 **Lunchtime, Yuzu's POV**

"You know, it's nice to have the same lockers as last year, but most of our classes are going to be on the second floor or higher." Yuzu said, as she and Hinata were leaving their third-period class to head to lunch.

"At least we each have one less class this year. Work-based learning for the win," Hinata replied, clearly more cheerful than Yuzu this morning. "Thankfully the art director offered me the assistant job. Even though she did offer it to you first."

"I love the art studio and all, but I just didn't feel like working there. I'm happy for you though." Yuzu said, glancing down at her phone to find no text from Taro disappointingly.

"Thank you," Hinata said, pausing as her eyes caught sight of Yukio from across the cafeteria. "Um, I'm going to go talk to Yukio real quick. We'll meet up with you in ten minutes."

Yuzu motioned to the back doors. "I'm going to get us a table out on the school's new patio."

"Sounds good!" Hinata called, as she was already on her way over to go to Yukio now.

A few minutes later, Yuzu was settled on a table out on the patio. Her packed lunch in front of her, and her sketchbook out. Her pencil was furiously meeting the paper, as her eyes glanced out at the view and back to the paper again.

"Hey," Taro's voice hit her ears, as he sat down next to her. His arm wrapped around her, as he kissed her. "How's your day been going?"

"It's been pretty good actually. It was kind of boring in class, because we're only going over the syllabus for each class," Yuzu replied, chuckling as she spent most of her time fighting the urge to fall asleep as each teacher would repeat the school-wide part of each syllabus. By the end of the day she should be able to recite it from memory. "How has your classes been going?"

"Boring of course, but I'm already halfway through my day," Taro said, grinning at Yuzu's raised eyebrow. "Remember? I have the two-hour work-based learning now that I'm a junior. I leave after fifth period now instead of sixth."

"Oh yeah I forgot. I have one hour work-based learning this year. My schedule turned out just the way I wanted it to. History, literature, chemistry, lunch, math, cosmetology, art, then work-based learning-"

"Wait a second," Taro interrupted, his lopsided grin returning to his face. "Cosmetology?"

"Shut up," Yuzu nudged his shoulder, laughing. "When Hinata and I were signing up for classes we needed an extra elective on top of Art, and Hinata suggested we try Cosmetology. Besides, I don't think it will be that bad. Maybe it'll be an easy class… And I only have two classes with Karin this year. History and math- Oh and we both have work-based learning, but that's not really a class as you know."

"Wow, well you seem to know your stuff more than I do," Taro said, pulling out a slightly crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. "I basically just glided through my first few classes, and didn't really pay much attention. Plus my schedule is a little unreadable if you couldn't tell. I think it went through the washer and dryer with these jeans."

"That's okay," Yuzu said, kissing Taro once. "You've got plenty of time to figure it all out."

"Hey," Shin's voice got their attention, as he walked over with Suki. "Where are Hinata and Yukio?"

"They should be here any minute." Yuzu said, drowning out the conversation change, as her eyes fell down to her sketch in front of her. _It's nice to sketch again. I'm hoping this school year will be full of art and happiness._

* * *

 **A/N: The Summer is over, and we find Karin coming back happy but changing. We also find that Yuzu's Summer at home turned out pretty great for her. We also see that now that Karin is back home, her and Toshiro's relationship seems to be changing. On another note, any speculation as to what Karin did during the first half of her Summer trip?**

 **Don't forget to review, favorite, and share this story with others. Also be sure to check out my other stories.**

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	29. A New Family Pet

_Review:_

 _"That's okay," Yuzu said, kissing Taro once. "You've got plenty of time to figure it all out."_

 _"Hey," Shin's voice got their attention, as he walked over with Suki. "Where is Hinata and Yukio?"_

 _"They should be here any minute." Yuzu said, drowning out the conversation change, as her eyes fell down to her sketch in front of her. It's nice to sketch again. I'm hoping this school year will be full of art and happiness._

* * *

 **A few weeks later, September 19th**

Walking into The Grill, Yuzu smiled at the small-town atmosphere it gave off inside. It was the newest Bar & Grill in town, and it was really popular with high school and college students.

"Okay, so I think Shin gets off in five minutes. We can just sit at a booth and wait for him." Suki said, motioning for their friend group to go over to a big circle booth.

Yuzu's eyes swept over to Shin, who was currently cleaning the dishes off one of the tables. He had gotten a job there as a bus boy as soon as the place opened, and this quickly became their new favorite place. Her eyes caught onto bright red hair behind the bar, before realizing she knew the person. _Kat?_ She walked over, and offered the other girl a smile. "Look who it is."

Kat looked up, and smiled right away at the sight of Yuzu. "Yuzu."

"I didn't know you worked here," Yuzu said, sitting down on a barstool, and she set her phone on the bar top. "And as a bartender. Don't you need to be eighteen at least?"

"Well, technically you're right, but I'll be eighteen next January," Kat said, motioning to her name tag. "I'm technically a junior bartender, and I need adult supervision from the actual bartender. All it really means is that they have to double-check every ID of anyone who wants to buy alcohol."

"Wow," Yuzu said, her eyes traveling the bar, before going back to Kat. "That's pretty cool. It's better than working at a boutique."

"Purple Lotus right?" Kat asked, smiling when Yuzu nodded. "I thought I saw you in there a couple of weeks ago… It can't be that bad."

"Oh it can be. I have a lot of customers that come in that want to blame me for their expired coupons not being accepted or why the sale that ended last week doesn't apply this week. It can be taxing on my nerves that is for sure."

"At least you customers don't get drunk and try to hit on you all the time."

"I guess that's a good point," Yuzu said, laughing along with Kat at that. Her eyes shifted over to the door that led into the back opened, and Shin came out. "Are you finally off?"

"Yeah, let's get out of here." Shin said, before going over to where their friends were waiting.

Yuzu got up from the barstool, but paused and smiled at Kat. "It was nice catching up. Maybe I'll see you around here more often."

"Sounds good to me." Kat replied, briefly smiling at Yuzu, before getting distracted by someone sitting down to order.

As Yuzu re-joined her friends, as they were walking outside, Hinata nudged her shoulder. "Was that Kat?"

"Yeah it was," Yuzu said, then she chuckled. "I know, I wasn't sure at first either, because of the red hair."

"I don't think I could ever get myself to dye my hair that bright of a color." Hinata said, her hands running through her blonde hair.

Yuzu shrugged, as she glanced back at the bar. "I don't know. I kind of like it."

 **Karin's POV**

Karin walked into the parking garage that connected onto the Somi tower, and she felt the tension leave her shoulders immediately. She had just wrapped an assignment that had been ongoing since Saturday, and it felt good to finally get it done. _It wouldn't have taken so long if I didn't have school yesterday and earlier today. This would probably be a whole lot easier without school in the equation._ She stopped by a window to see if she could get reception, before she dialed Toshiro's number.

" _Hey baby."_

"Hey, have you had dinner yet?"

" _No actually. I was lost in a sea of paperwork for the past couple hours."_

"Okay, well how about I pick up some food and bring it over. I need to be back by ten thirty, as that's my new curfew. A whole thirty minutes more than last year. That would at least gives us a little over an hour."

" _That sounds good to me. Be careful."_

"I'll try my best." Karin replied with a laugh, before hanging up the phone. Excited now that she was going to get to see Toshiro tonight, she picked up her pace to her car.

 **Almost an hour later**

Sighing after The Office's theme song came on with the credits, Karin stretched and sat up. "I probably need to go. I know my curfew isn't for another thirty minutes, but I want to get home a little early if I can. I figure that if I come home earlier than my curfew most of the time, then if I accidentally miss it at some point, it won't be that big of a deal. At least that is what I'm hoping for."

"Okay," Toshiro said, sitting up and wrapping his arms around her. "I feel like you just got here."

"I know," Karin offered him a smile, as she shrugged. "I guess watching episodes of The Office makes time go by faster than normal."

"I can't follow that logic, but okay," Toshiro said, smirking as he kissed her. When he had moved to break their kiss, Karin resisted and continued to kiss him. Not hesitating to continue, Toshiro pulled her closer, as their kisses began to grow more heated. His hands beginning to explore upward, and after a while of getting carried away, he had to force himself to pull away from her. "Okay, we need to talk about this. If we're not going to be taking that next step in our relationship anytime soon, we need to take it easy."

"Okay." Karin agreed, sitting up once Toshiro had done the same.

Toshiro took one of her hands to get her attention. "I want to say that I don't want you to feel like I'm pressuring you to take that next step either. I just think it's best if we establish some boundaries until you are ready."

"I'm okay with that," Karin said, using her free hand to prop her head up. "I've actually been thinking about that lately, and I think I'm ready."

That made Toshiro raise an eyebrow. "You are?"

"I mean I want to be on birth control first, and we should obviously still use condoms. I want to be safe about it," Karin said, her eyes going down to where he still held her hand. "We can't do anything right away either. It might be a week or two before I can get an appointment to get on birth control, and I want to make sure I'm using it long enough for it to actually work."

"I'm not in any rush," Toshiro said, a smile growing on his face as they stared at one another, before he chuckled. "You're going to miss your curfew."

"Oh right," Karin said, laughing as she stood up. "We someone how managed to take up fifteen more minutes of time. How did that happen?"

Toshiro chuckled along with her, before getting up to walk with her to the door. He kissed her after opening the door for her. "I love you."

"I love you too… Goodbye." Karin said, kissing him one last time, before she left. After getting down the stairs and to her car, she paused once she was I the driver's seat. Her heart was still racing, and she felt almost a fire inside of her. _Soon we'll take that next step and actually have sex for the first time… I really, really want to._

 **A couple of days later, Thursday**

"So what kind of assignment is it going to be?" Toshiro asked, leaning back on Karin's bed, and scratching Zorro behind the ears.

"Uh, I'm not sure yet actually," Karin replied, folding another shirt to put into her bag. She noticed Toshiro raising an eyebrow in her direction. "What?"

"It just seems weird that you don't know." Toshiro replied, having to pull his hand back, as Zorro must have got bored and wanted to attack his hand now.

"It's not that weird. Sometimes we don't always know our assignments until the day of," Karin said, noticing Toshiro didn't seem as convinced, and she smiled. "It's just probably different than how you guys do things. Plus, I don't usually go on assignments that much that last longer than a day.

Toshiro sat up after escaping Zorro's claws, and he shrugged after looking to Karin. "I guess."

A knock on her open-door got her attention, and Isshin stood in the doorway of her room. "How long are you going to be gone on this assignment?"

"From Friday after school to Sunday evening." Karin replied, fighting the urge to sigh. _Which I've already told him like six times._

Isshin chuckled as he could see the annoyance in his daughter's eyes. "I know that I keep asking, but it just seems like a long amount of time. You were gone for almost the whole Summer, so I guess it's better than that. I just can't believe you're going on assignments now."

"Yes, and let's not forget that before now Ichigo disappeared regularly for months at a time without telling anyone when he first became a shinigami, so-"

"Alright," Isshin interrupted her, a smirk on his face, as he held up a hand. "I'm being overprotective. I'll stop."

"Love you dad!" Karin called after he left the room, her eyes went back to Toshiro. "He's getting on my nerves."

Toshiro reached over to pull her closer. "He's your dad and he's going to be concerned about you whether you like it or not."

"I guess." Karin sighed dramatically, but smiled when Toshiro kissed her.

"How about I go get us something to drink and popcorn to enjoy for the movie we watch once you finish packing?"

"That sounds great." Karin replied, smiling as she watched him until he was out of her room and she heard him go downstairs. Pulling out her phone, she typed out a text.

 _Karin: I'll be there early tomorrow morning. It only takes two hours by plane, and I guess I'll just have to suffer sitting next to strangers._

 _Okay. I can come pick you up from the airport, and we can go get breakfast._

 _Karin: Sounds good. My family thinks I'm going on an assignment. They won't be worried about me._

Her eyes went back to the open door when she heard movement in the hall. Only to see Yuzu walking past her doorway having just come home from work. Frowning at the sight of her sister, she grabbed Zorro to pet him. _I feel bad keeping this a secret, but I just… I want it for myself._

 **Next week, September 27th**

Setting another bag of dog food down on top of the stack in the storage room, Karin sighed heavily. _Good thing I work out regularly, or else this would be torture._ Her eyes glanced around herself, as she walked out of the storage room. She had spent the last hour and a half volunteering at the same animal shelter she adopted Zorro from.

"You know Karin," another volunteer, who was college-aged, spoke to Karin. "I'm surprised you're here today. Isn't there a ton of wedding planning activities going on?"

"My contribution to it all is that I'm watching all the kids the day and night before the wedding." Karin replied, walking with a couple of the other volunteers to finish up morning feedings.

"I thought you only had one niece."

"Technically, I only have one blood-related niece, and that's Mina," Karin said, pulling up a photo on her phone to show the three kids in her 'family'. "My sister-in-law's niece has become apart of the family and so have her parents. Then my brother and sister-in-law's friend Mai and her husband and daughter have become kind of like family. So it's three kids. All girls. All different ages. And all extremely adorable."

"They are," one of the volunteers said, before she chuckled. "And if you are watching all three of them, you're not going to get any sleep."

"Tell me about it," Karin said, as they all laughed. She came to a stop in front of a cage, a big red cross on it got her attention. "This dog is at risk?"

"Yeah, he's been here for so long, and no one wants to adopt him. He's only three, and he would make the best companion to any family. But a lot of people are put off by the breed."

Karin knelt down to see a rottweiler currently laying with his head facing the back wall.

"Karin?"

The sound of Hana's voice caught Karin's ears, and she looked up just as Hana stopped beside her. "Hey, how was yoga?"

"I felt good for the first part of the class, but they wanted us to lie still and meditate in the dark for the last ten minutes. I almost fell asleep." Hana chuckled.

"That sounds like my kind of yoga class." Karin said, standing back up to look at the papers on the dog's cage.

"How has-" Hana broke off when she picked up on what Karin was reading. "What does at-risk mean?"

Karin knelt back down, and managed to coax the dog to come forward to the front of the cage, and after a moment she was able to pet the dog a couple of times. "It means that he could get put down by the end of the week."

Hana knelt down beside Karin and tilted her head to the side. "Who wouldn't want this big guy?"

"I know… Well, I guess we should go," Karin said, standing up to walk away. However, she only made it a few steps, before turning around to face the other volunteers. "How long has he been here again?"

 **A couple of hours later**

Karin paced across the dining room and to the living room.

"Karin," Hana started, as she walked out of the kitchen. "You're going to make yourself sick."

"I already feel sick," Karin replied, taking a long deep breath. Her eyes darting to the front door when she heard it opening. "Hey dad. How was work?"

Isshin slipped off his shoes after closing the front door. "It went by pretty quickly. There was a lot of traumas coming in."

"That's really great- Awesome really." Karin replied immediately.

Hana nudged her shoulder to whisper to her. "Tone it down."

Despite Hana's warning, Isshin had already raised an eyebrow in Karin's direction. "What did you do?"

"Me?" Karin countered, motioning to herself. "What did I do?"

Isshin chuckled at her obvious avoidance at his question. "Go ahead and tell me."

Karin shared a look with Hana, before offering a smile to her dad. "So, when I was volunteering at the animal shelter this morning, there was a dog there that caught my eye. He has been there for a while and he was at risk of being put down. No one has wanted to adopt him even though he is really cute and only three years old-"

"Okay," Isshin interrupted with a sigh. "Let me take a guess on this one. You want to adopt this dog?"

A bark came from the backyard, then Karin laughed and rubbed the back of her neck. "It's actually a funny story."

"You already adopted the dog?" Isshin deadpanned.

Karin laughed for a long moment. "I knew you would think it's funny."

"You know, I'm partially to blame here," Hana cut in quickly. "The dog is really sweet. He was timid at first, but he's really just so sweet and playful once you get to know him."

Isshin was quiet for a moment, then finally a smile broke out on his face before he laughed. "This is not fair that you two are teaming up now… Let's go see this dog."

At her dad seeming to be a little more accepting of the idea, Karin was happy to go right out on the back porch. Her eyes sweeping the backyard to land on the dog, who was currently laying in the flower bed. "Oh look at him."

"He is so cute." Hana gushed, as she and Karin both pulled out their phones to take pictures of him.

Karin finally put her phone away, and went over to see if she could get him to come back up on the porch. After a few minutes, he was finally up there, and she was kneeling down next to him to pet him. "Isn't he amazing?"

Isshin still held a plain look on his face, as he studied the dog. "You couldn't have picked a smaller one?"

"Gus needed a home." Karin replied immediately.

Her words had Isshin sighing and shaking his head, finally reaching forward to allow the dog to sniff his hand, before petting it. "You've already named him, so I guess there is no chance of me saying no to this now."

"No." Karin and Hana chorused, before they both laughed.

"Perfect," Isshin said, sighing heavily, but he knelt down beside the dog. Petting him a little bit longer, he finally smiled. "Maybe this won't be too bad."

"Hey!" Yuzu's voice came from inside, before she appeared in the doorway. Her eyes widening at the dog. "Who's this?"

"His name is Gus," Karin replied, kneeling down to pet him as well. "He's the best dog in the entire world."

At Yuzu's continued look of confusion, Isshin chuckled. "Karin adopted a dog, and got Hana on bored. Don't worry, I'm just now finding out about this myself."

"Seriously?" Yuzu countered, all of a sudden smiling. "This is great! I've always wanted a dog."

"Damn it, you all are on the same side, and I don't think that's fair." Isshin said, smirking as that got all of them to laugh.

 **The next day**

Waking up to Zorro's usual attempt to claw her face in order to get her to feed him, Karin was quick to capture him to pet him instead. After he wiggled out of her arms, she grinned as that got him to jump over to her desk and leave her alone. Feeling something pressing on her feet, she glanced down to see Gus had woken up at the sound of Zorro landing on her desk. She sat up to give him some attention, before finally getting up to start her day. Opening her desk drawer she took out her pouch of birth control pills and took one. _I've been taking them for almost a week now…_

Scooping up Zorro, she opened her bedroom door and motioned for Gus to follow her down the hall. Once downstairs, she found Orihime, Ichigo, and Toshiro down there.

"Good morning." Toshiro greeted her, smiling as Karin leaned over the back of the couch to kiss him.

Gus barreled his way down the stairs then, catching everyone's attention. Karin quickly set Zorro down, and picked up Mina in order to keep her from getting unintentionally knocked over by Gus's excited tail wags. "Gus says good morning too."

"Gus?" Toshiro asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Did I mention that I adopted a dog yesterday?" Karin countered, smirking as she handed Mina over to Ichigo.

"You've got to be kidding me. Is a cat not enough? Plus you have Hana's cat now too." Ichigo added, rolling his eyes at how Karin was seemingly overjoyed at the mention of all the animals.

"It's not a joke," Isshin said, although he couldn't help but chuckle. "I came home yesterday to Karin and Hana explaining there was a dog that was at risk of being put down. My guess was that they wanted to go back and adopt him, but then I heard him barking from the backyard."

That had the others laughing, and Orihime raising an eyebrow at how big Gus was. "The picture you sent to me doesn't do him justice. He's huge in person."

Karin grinned. "I know. Isn't it great?"

"Of course you already knew about the dog before me," Ichigo said to Orihime, his eyes landing on his sister. "Why don't you ever tell me things first?"

"To be fair, she sent it to the group chat," Orihime said, then she waved a hand. "However, not our family group chat. It's the one with me, Yuzu, Hana, Mai, and Rin."

Ichigo chuckled. "I don't think that's fair. Is that where you keep all the secrets from the rest of us?"

"No," Orihime said at the same time as Karin who said, "Yes."

Laughter from everyone went up again, and Karin offered her brother a smirk. "How else are we supposed to talk about you? If you were involved in our obviously ladies only group chat, it would defeat the purpose."

Having to briefly focus on settling Mina down to keep her from getting off the couch, Ichigo chuckled. "That's _great_."

"Your sarcasm is noted, but I don't care," Karin said, her attention moving on to how Gus was darting after a tennis ball that rolled across the room. "I think it's time to go outside."

"Hold on," Ichigo said, passing Mina over to Orihime so he could get up. "Bingo is out there."

"We can introduce them if you want," Karin suggested, kneeling down to pet Gus when he settled down briefly. "The cats aren't too fond of him so far."

Toshiro chuckled. "That's not surprising."

Once they all went outside, the introductions between Bingo and Gus took a little while. Ichigo had Bingo on his leash, and Karin had Gus on his. However, the two seemed to mix very well, and Gus soon lost interest in favor of sniffing around the backyard.

"It looks like there won't be any problems." Orihime said, finally setting Mina down after her wiggling to be put down was getting to the point of her starting to fuss.

Even though they let both dogs out in the yard without their leash now, Karin's eyes still watched them closely. "Even so, I would like to supervise them when they are together for the next few times they are together. Gus is new to this environment, and it might take him a few days to get more comfortable. His behavior could change."

"He seems like such a sweetheart though." Orihime said, her eyes switching from Gus to Bingo, who had gone up on the porch to see Mina since she was finally on his level.

"I think I'm going to start on breakfast." Isshin said, sliding the backdoor open to go back inside.

As some of the others went inside as well, Toshiro joined Karin in sitting on the top step. "You have a new pet."

"I couldn't help it," Karin said, smiling as she rested her head on his shoulder. "He was so cute and needed a home."

"Don't you have school today?" Toshiro asked.

"Yes, but I have another forty-five minutes until I have to leave the house," Karin replied, straightening up so she could raise an eyebrow at him. "Why are you here so early in the morning?"

Toshiro motioned to the backyard. "Your father asked if your brother would help him do some landscaping for Hana in the backyard. Then somehow, Orihime recruited me too, and here I am at six-thirty in the morning."

"How nice of you," Karin said, leaning over to kiss Toshiro, but Gus tugging on his leash broke them apart. She got up to take the leash off. "Since Bingo is inside now, you can run around and play all you want."

 **After school**

"I hope you all enjoy these treats at your bachelorette party tomorrow." Yuzu said, sticking the tray of oreo balls in the refrigerator. She was over at Rin's house, and she was helping prepare some of the desserts that Rin could enjoy tomorrow.

"Your desserts are always amazing," Rin said, helping start on the next dessert. "I can't believe the wedding is two days away."

"It's going to be fun having Raya stay over at the house while you guys are gone," Yuzu said, pausing to step over the bulldog, Mr. Franklin. "We'll have to introduce your dog to Karin's new dog. They'll be spending a lot of time together over at the house."

"I saw the pictures Karin posted of him," Rin paused to whistle. "He looks huge."

"Trust me, he is much bigger in person. But he is so sweet, and like a little teddy bear," Yuzu said, her eyes glancing down on her phone at a text from Taro that made her smile. "Taro's going to be picking me up in half an hour."

Rin's smile grew. "How are things going with him? You two have been dating for almost a year now, right?"

"Yeah almost," Yuzu said, unable to help her own smile from growing. "Things are going really well too. I'm so happy."

"Well, you're very lucky to have found love so early in your life."

"I know. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have Taro. He's perfect and he makes me so happy-" Yuzu broke off and chuckled, then she waved in Rin's direction. "Anyway, let's talk about you. Where are you and Kei honeymooning at."

 **A couple of days later, September 30th, Rin and Kei's wedding**

Walking into one of the tents, Yuzu admired the beautiful décor. "Wow, this place is beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as you," Taro said, his usual lopsided grin on his face. "You look amazing in that dress."

"And you look so hot in that suit." Yuzu complimented back, smiling as Taro kissed her. However, giggling hitting their ears broke them apart. Raya came running past Yuzu, with Emi not far behind her. "Hey! Why are we running?!" Yuzu called after them, smiling at the two girls giggling.

"It's because of me." Karin's voice hit their ears, and they turned to see a disheveled looking Karin. Clearly not dressed yet, as she was still wearing a sweatshirt and leggings.

"You're not dressed?" Yuzu asked, an eyebrow raised. "The ceremony is going to start in less than half an hour."

"I know. I did most of my makeup and hair, then all of the girls wanted to start running around. Plus, none of them wanted to sleep last night, and now they are driving me crazy," Karin said, pausing to take a long breath as Emi was now chasing Raya, who was screaming at the top of her lungs. "I'm basically running on fumes, and probably close to death."

Yuzu chuckled, and took Mina from Karin. "I'll keep an eye on Mina to give you some time to capture Emi and Raya. I will also go and find you some coffee."

"Thank you." Karin said, turning to go and grab Emi and Raya.

A few minutes later, Yuzu and Taro were walking back in Karin's direction with a coffee for her. Yuzu was now holding Mina's hand, as she started getting fussy with Yuzu holding her.

"Your sister is pretty amazing to still be alive after watching three small children on her own." Taro said, having been holding the coffee for Karin, so Yuzu could focus on Mina.

"Tell me about it. I can barely handle watching Mina for an hour when I babysit." Yuzu said, right when they ran into Orihime, Mai, and Toshiro.

"Hey baby girl." Orihime greeted Mina, kneeling down so she could hug and kiss her daughter.

"Well, you look amazing." Yuzu complimented after having swept over the amazing dress Orihime's was wearing.

"Thanks, I'm extremely hungover, but we're not going to talk about that," Orihime said, her eyes going to the coffee Taro was holding. "Where did you get that?"

"They have a pot going by the bar, and I asked the bartender if he'd mind sharing a cup early," Taro said, motioning in the direction of the bar. "Although, it's not for me. It's for Karin."

"Speaking of Karin," Mai said, her eyes glancing around. "I thought Mina was supposed to be with her and the other kids."

"Well-"

"Okay, I successfully captured the children." Karin's voice interrupted Yuzu, before she showed up. One hand holding Raya's, the other holding Emi's.

Her words received some chuckles from the other, and Mai reached over to smooth some of Emi's hair out. "Karin are you aware of what time it is? You're not dressed yet."

"I know- Thank you," Karin said after accepting the coffee from Taro. After taking a long drink from the coffee, she leaned over to look at Raya and Emi. "Okay, we are going to go put your dresses on. You two aren't going to run away anymore, because I'm about to lose my mind."

While she received giggles from Raya and Emi, Karin just took another sip of coffee and walked on. Yuzu smiled at the confusion of the others. "She apparently didn't get much sleep last night, because apparently at least one of them was awake at all times. On the bright side, she makes sleep-deprived look good."

"Just like Orihime," Mai added, laughing along with the others. "Let me grab Mina, and I will go give Karin a hand getting the girls ready. You should probably go find that coffee."

"Definitely," Orihime said, letting go of Mina's hand so she could go with Mai, she smiled as she turned back to Taro and Yuzu. "Where's the coffee again?"

 **Karin's POV**

Finishing the last of her mascara, Karin yawned as she put the tube of mascara back into her makeup bag.

"Yawning already?" Toshiro's voice hit her ears, as he entered the room. "You're cutting it pretty close. The ceremony is supposed to start in five minutes."

"Trust me, I know," Karin said, putting on her earrings. "I was so happy when Mai came and helped me out a little bit. I don't know how they do it. Those girls can be wild."

"To be fair, they only have one kid each. You were watching all three of their kids." Toshiro pointed out.

"I guess it would have been better if I didn't just come home from training yesterday evening before watching them all," Karin said with a shrug. "But I'm glad it gave the chance for their parents to go out and have a nice night."

"Well, if you weren't such a great babysitter, I'm sure they'd have someone else watch them." Toshiro said, chuckling at her smirk.

"I know, I set myself up for this, but I love it. Even though sometimes I don't sleep when they are all over," Karin said, putting a little last-minute hair spray on her hair, before she finally stood up. "Okay, we can go."

Toshiro held onto her hand to keep her from moving, as his eyes swept her over. "You look beautiful."

Karin smiled, and felt her cheeks grow slightly warm. "Thank you."

Kissing her once, Toshiro kept her hand in his as they left outside. "Are we still going out later?"

"Yes, that's the plan," Karin replied, using her free hand to keep her hair away from her eyes. "Raya's going to be at the house with the family, because we're watching her for Rin and Kei while they go on their honeymoon. Her and her dog that is. My family is going to be keeping an eye on them, so I don't have to worry about that tonight. It'll be nice to go out."

Raising an eyebrow at the tired expression on Karin's face. "If you don't fall asleep first."

"Yeah, I might take a little nap before we go to dinner." Karin said, stifling yet another yawn.

"I think I could agree to that, as long as I can join," Toshiro replied, smiling back at Karin, as he held out a hand. "For now, let's go to a wedding."

* * *

 **A/N: So Kat is back in the picture now. Well, sort of. Do you think she and Yuzu will be able to be friends? Also, we've got another furbaby in the house. With a dog and two cats, they should basically start preparing to open a zoo in the house. How many animals do you have?**

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